Tara Kearsey
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (July 12/02) - A 30-year-old man convicted of sexual assault last year has been sent back to jail for two months after pleading guilty to breaching the terms of his probation.

The man was sentenced to one year in jail plus time served in pre-trial custody last August for sexual assault against the 11-year-old daughter of his ex-wife.

A probationary period of two years after his release was ordered at the time of sentencing. As a term of his probation, the man was ordered to refrain from contacting his ex-wife or the victim.

The man was released from custody on April 9. In Yellowknife territorial court Tuesday the court heard the man broke the terms of his probation the same day he was released.

Later that day, the man saw his ex-wife at Centre Square Mall and approached her. When she refused to speak to him he followed her around and later began calling her at her home. He also told his ex-wife that if she didn¼t talk to him on the phone, he would go to her home, the court heard.

The man attempted to speak with her and followed her on several occasions after that incident. At one point she warned him that he was on probation and not permitted to contact her. The court heard that he then replied that he didn¼t care if she reported him to police or if he went back to jail because he would eventually be released again. Then in early June the woman was checking her e-mail in the Yellowknife Library when she noticed his presence. She immediately left the library using the stairs to exit in order to avoid him.

But the court heard that he again followed her, caught up with her on the stairs and asked if he could hug her. She agreed to a short embrace but ran away as soon as he let her go. He then followed her again.

The court heard the man also followed her to an Alcoholic¼s Anonymous meeting and stood outside the Red Apple restaurant waving to get her attention while she ate.

But defence lawyer Tom Boyd argued the woman had been initiating contact with his client as well.

Boyd said she had contacted his client the day he was released and on several other occasions since then. Boyd also noted the woman had not reported his client to police until June, almost two months after the unlawful contact began.

No excuse

If a jail sentence was to be imposed, Boyd asked that his client be permitted to serve his sentence intermittently in order to keep his job at a local restaurant.

But Judge Brian Bruser believed the probation breach was very serious.

The man has a lengthy criminal record with 19 convictions as an adult, five of which involved crimes of violence. Bruser said the man¼s ex-wife may have tried to contact him, but said „it is him that¼s on probation.¾

„He can¼t use that as an excuse for his behaviour. This probation means what it says. It¼s not complicated. „You know you have to obey orders of the court,¾ said Bruser, noting five convictions on the man¼s record were related to disobeying court orders.

Bruser found it particularly aggravating that the man had been advised he was breaking the terms of his probation order, but didn¼t seem to care.