Judge Michel Bourassa said he didn't believe a word of Nasken's testimony in territorial court Tuesday afternoon.

He flatly denied all allegations and, according to Bourassa's observations, the accused showed "an absolute, total lack of remorse."

Nasken was found guilty of assault, assault with a weapon and uttering death threats against the same complainant.

For more than an hour the victim sat hunched over on the witness stand, her face in her hands, sobbing uncontrollably as she recounted the horrifying, repetitive violence inflicted on her by Nasken over several months.

Whimpering and barely audible, she disclosed the details of three separate occasions when Nasken grabbed her on the stairs and smashed her face into his forehead, punched her and beat her over the head with a bottle of Private Stock, and held a knife at her throat while threatening to slit it.

She was so terrified of Nasken that she failed to appear for the first day of his trial, Dec. 6.

Bourassa was forced to issue a warrant for her arrest and have her held her in police custody until she testified Tuesday.

Letter to victim

The Crown introduced into evidence a letter delivered to the victim from a Yellowknife Correctional Centre inmate in October.

In the letter, signed by Nasken, he asked the victim to abstain from attending court to testify at his trial because the Crown was seeking a three-year prison term.

He said if she didn't attend court, he would probably only get 10 months in jail or the charges would be dropped.

Wearing a tattered grey T-shirt branded "All men are created nasty," Nasken, 34, denied he ever hit the woman, claiming she beat him when he wanted to go out drinking.

Bourassa considered the letter extremely aggravating, calling it a "manipulative, exploitative and callous" way to get what he wants.

Upon sentencing, Bourassa said he could see no mitigating factors "in his history, his background or his conduct." Nasken has a lengthy criminal record, almost all crimes of violence. Nasken will appear in territorial court yet again on Dec. 17 to enter a plea on another assault charge.