.

Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

BEHCHOKO - A 33-year-old Behchoko man who repeatedly punched his wife, assaulted her with a stereo system and unlawfully confined her in her home last June served no further time in jail following his May 11 court sentence.

The man pleaded guilty to four charges including two breaches of an undertaking, unlawful confinement and assault with a weapon. He was held in custody for seven-and-a-half months prior to sentencing.

Judge John Vertes said the man had basically been given a 15-month sentence, considering time already spent in jail awaiting his court sentence - that waiting period was credited at double time.

Despite it all, the victim, according to the lawyers, is interested in resuming the relationship with the man.

The incident occurred close to midnight on June 11, 2008. The man - at the time prohibited from contacting his wife by court order - was let into her Behchoko home by the couple's 13-year-old daughter, according to an agreed statement of facts presented at the sentencing hearing in Yellowknife.

The victim returned home around 2:30 a.m. and was assaulted following a telephone conversation with another man. He "punched her repeatedly in the face, pulling her hair and pushing her to the floor," said Crown prosecutor John MacFarlane.

The man then grabbed a stereo system and struck the victim's left arm with it.

The woman ran into the bathroom and tried to lock herself inside, but the man broke the bathroom door and dragged her into a bedroom where the assault continued.

During the assault, the couple's daughter yelled for her father to stop.

Her mother asked her to go to the neighbours for help, but the man would not let her leave. He had also unplugged the phone so she couldn't call for help.

The man did not leave the home until around 6 a.m. that morning.

"This was a prolonged assault," said MacFarlane, who added the victim was "a prisoner in her own home."

MacFarlane said he believed the incident will affect the 13-year-old daughter, who witnessed much of the assault. He also added the couple's three other children were in the home at the time.

MacFarlane asked for a 15-month sentence forthe four charges.

According to Vertes, the man had 17 previous convictions since 1995, including nine violent convictions - two of those violent crimes were against the same victim.

The man stood and apologized in court before sentencing.

"I was wrong and I'm sorry for my actions," he said, adding he wished to seek help for his anger and alcohol issues.

Vertes said he took the man's words seriously, and warned him against any type of further violence against the family.

"No judge is going to be as lenient as I feel I am going to be right now," he said.

In handing down the sentence, Vertes agreed to what he said were basically the wishes of the Crown and defence lawyers.

Along with the sentence, the man was given two years of probation, ordered to keep the peace, to take whatever counselling a probation officer deems necessary, and was prohibited from owning or being in possession of a firearm, with the exception of using it for subsistence hunting.

"The weapon alleged was a stereo, not a firearm," said defence lawyer Kelly Payne, in arguing against a firearm prohibition.

Also, as it was the wish of the victim to reconcile with the man, no order was placed prohibiting contact between them.