Yellowknife (Feb 20/04) - A 16-year-old youth, convicted as an adult in Supreme Court on two counts of sexual assault, will serve part of his sentence in the North and part of it at a treatment centre in Saskatoon.

He was sentenced in January to five years in prison, to be followed by five years of supervision in the community.

He has also been designated as a long-term offender and was prohibited from possessing firearms for 10 years after his release.

The assaults were separate incidents, occurring in Yellowknife on Sept. 29, and Oct. 8, 2002, on two different individuals, just weeks after he was released from a 16-month period of residential treatment in Calgary for three convictions of a similar nature in 2001.

In his decision, Justice Ted Richard accepted the recommendations of the placement committee, which means the 16-year-old will serve his time in the North Slave Youth Facility until a place is made available for him at the Regional Psychiatric Centre in Saskatoon, Sask. He may then return to the Northern youth facility to complete his sentence.

The offender's mother and aunt were too emotional to speak to the court regarding the sentence when given the opportunity by the judge.