Terry Halifax
Northern News Services

NNSL (Apr 09/99) - A Yellowknife man was sentenced to one year in jail following his guilty plea to two counts of breach of probation and one count of assault with a weapon.

Floyd Paul Kakfwi was convicted and sentenced in territorial court Tuesday, for threatening a man with a knife during a dispute over alcohol, the court heard.

Crown Prosecutor Sandra Aitken told the court that while Kakfwi was drinking at a friend's house, the two began arguing over a bottle of whiskey.

Kakfwi pulled a knife and threatened the man saying,

"You wanna try me...you wanna play with me?"

Aitken said Kakfwi then fled the residence with the bottle of liquor while the victim phoned police.

Police arrested Kakfwi a short time later in possession of the liquor and a six-inch steak knife. Kakfwi was also found to be intoxicated and in violation of a court order to abstain from alcohol consumption.

In Kakfwi's defence, attorney Angela Davies recalled the defendant's past of personal problems she said contributed to Kakfwi's violence and alcohol abuse, and caused him to "go from victim to perpetrator."

Judge Robert Halifax sympathised with the defendant's personal issues, but would not accept them as an excuse to commit violent crime.

"Because you're a victim of violence does not give you the right to commit violence," Halifax said.

The judge cited Kakfwi's 13 previous convictions for violent crime and 14 breaches of court orders in handing down the sentence.

"You have a track record that shows you cannot abide by court orders," he told Kakfwi.

Kakfwi was sentenced to eight months in jail for assault with a weapon and two months consecutive to two charges of breaching a court order. He was also given one-year probation to serve on his release.