Amanda Vaughan
Northern News Services
Published Monday, November 26, 2007

YELLOWKNIFE - A Yellowknife radio broadcaster was handed a unique sentence upon his conviction for assault.

A judge granted him a conditional discharge, as long he dedicates one of his broadcasts to the issue of domestic violence, and seeks counselling.

"If I made a condition for him to dedicate a program to domestic violence, would he be able to comply," Judge L.J. Wenden asked the man's defence lawyer Caroline Wawzonek in court Nov. 20.

Wawzonek and her client both nodded yes.

The man was charged after an argument with his wife escalated into a physical fight in early September.

She called police after her husband hit her several times in the face, according to Crown prosecutor Brendan Gaunt.

Before asking for the conditional sentence, Wawzonek made extensive submissions regarding her client's respected standing in the community, his remorse for the incident, and the isolated nature of the crime, which was verified by the victim.

"I have spoken with (the victim) extensively, and at her own request," said Wawzonek.

She said the accused's wife had put forward an opinion that her husband had undergone some stress with the recent media attention on the residential school issue, considering he had been a student at one himself.

It was also brought up in court that the man had already taken steps to enter counselling following the assault.

Wenden described the accused as a "communicator with a wide audience," who had the potential to "turn the situation around and do something positive with it."

The judge gave him four months to dedicate one of his regular radio broadcasts to the topic of domestic violence, "how serious it is, and how it undermines us all."