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IQALUIT - A middle-aged Pangnirtung man will serve two years less a day at Baffin Correctional Centre after sexually assaulting his niece and shooting at RCMP officers.

The man, whose name is protected under a publication ban, said he has no memory of the events of April 20, 2007 because he was intoxicated, but told the court that what his niece and the police said was probably true. He had been charged with unlawful confinement, careless use of a firearm, using a firearm in an offence, discharging a firearm with intent to endanger life, sexual assault with a weapon and two counts of attempted murder.

After pleading guilty to sexual assault with a weapon and discharging a firearm with intent to endanger life, the other charges were dropped.

According to the niece's testimony as reported in court, the man met his niece while out and about in Pang. Both were intoxicated. He invited her over to his house and they had more to drink. She passed out and woke up hours later with her pants off and he was performing oral sex on her. She kicked him off.

He got a rifle, and fired several shots around her to intimidate her, threatening to shoot her and then shoot himself. When he ran out of ammunition he got another rifle and did it again.

They went upstairs and had sex and then he apologized. She grabbed her clothes and left.

When she went out the door she found the police out front. They had come in response to the reports of gunshots and the sound of her screaming.

The police tried to speak to the man, who then barricaded the door. Unsure if there was anyone else in house who was in danger, the police broke the front door in.

In court, the defence lawyer criticized the police action in storming the house, since they could have found out the man was alone if they had asked the woman after she left the house.

Inside, the police saw the man with a rifle pointed at them. He shot at them and they shot at him. Judging by the bullet-hole left behind, he shot between two RCMP members as they were standing less than a metre apart. The man was hit with a few pellets of a shotgun blast as he took cover behind a chair.

Eventually the police managed to talk him into surrendering himself.

Both convictions carry mandatory minimum sentences of four years. The Crown and defence made a joint submission to the judge, asking both sentences be served at the same time and that the man not serve federal prison time in a southern facility.

The man was credited four years and two months for the 25 months spent in custody since his arrest, and the judge added another two years less a day so the man could serve his time in Nunavut rather than at a federal prison.

He is required to write apologies to the RCMP officers he fired at and to the victim of his attack.

After completing his sentence the man will be banned from consuming alcohol or other intoxicants, his DNA will be entered into the national database and his name will be put on the sex offenders registry.

He will also be banned from owning or carrying firearms, but has permission to apply for a special permit so he can have a gun to go hunting.

The man has also been recommended for early work release.