Andrew Raven
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Nov 28/05) - A Tuktoyaktuk man who snuck into a woman's house and passed out in the bed beside her was sentenced to six months behind bars last week.

The 21-year-old admitted to that crime and five others during an appearance in Yellowknife territorial court Monday.

"You're heading for some big time in a big institution if you don't shape up," said Chief Judge Brian Bruser after handing down the sentence.

The woman went to bed around 6:30 a.m. on Aug. 8, after a party at her house, Crown prosecutor Sandra Aitken told the court.

The drunken man had been asked to leave the festivities earlier that evening. The woman's kitchen window was open - covered only by a plastic garbage bag - so the air could circulate on what was a warm August night.

When the woman awoke at 8 a.m., the man was asleep in her bed, though Aitken said there was no evidence she had been sexually assaulted.

Six days later the man - intoxicated again - was staggering down the road beside the Tuk cemetery when he leapt in front of an oncoming truck. The driver had to swerve to avoid hitting him, Aitken said.

The man had been released from jail on a condition not to drink.

"Here you are at the age of 21 and you think your future lies in the bottle," Bruser said. During the Monday court hearing, the man pleaded guilty to six charges including unlawfully being in a dwelling house - commonly known as trespassing - and multiple breaches of probation.

Defence lawyer James Mahon said his client suffers from an addiction to alcohol, which is behind most of his brushes with the law, but "he is probably not past salvation."