Yellowknife (Apr 29/05) - A repeat drunk driver was sentenced to six months behind bars and banned from driving for five years Tuesday during an appearance in territorial court.

Melvin Sheehan, a 53-year-old construction worker, had three previous convictions on his record for impaired driving along with a host of convictions for driving with a suspended license.

The latest charges against Sheehan stemmed from Aug. 14, 2004, when police spotted him weaving through downtown Yellowknife at around 2 p.m. Sheehan's pickup twice crossed the centre line and veered into oncoming traffic, said Crown Attorney Sandra Aitken.

Sheehan eventually turned down a side street where he drove through a stop sign. He finally came to a halt outside a downtown bowling alley.

Sheehan, slightly built with grey hair, nearly fell getting out of his truck. After being arrested, he swore at police, Aitken said, using nearly every curse word in the dictionary.

"One day you will be locked up in these cuffs... and I'll kick you in the face you bitch," he told one female officer.

In police cells, Sheehan continued to swear at officers and refused to take a breathalyser exam. He told police they could "blow the sample out their ass," Aitken told the court.

"Mr. Sheehan was highly intoxicated and a danger to the public," said judge Robert Gorin, minutes before handing down the six-month jail sentence.

Aitken had sought a nine -to -12 month term and a 10-year driving ban to "send a message to not only Mr. Sheehan, but to others."

Sheehan was drinking with friends that afternoon and had unwittingly mixed alcohol with pain medication he was taking for a back problem, said his lawyer, Margo Nightingale.

"He does not remember having very much to drink," said Nightingale, who noted her client awoke in police cells the following morning with no memory of the incident.

Sheehan served five months in jail for his last impaired-driving related conviction which came in the early 1990s. He has an extensive criminal record that includes seven convictions since that time, including one each for criminal harassment and uttering threats.

Gorin also sentenced Sheehan to two months in jail, Tuesday for skipping a court appearance and fined him $100 for not wearing a seat belt - an offence that came in November of 2004.