SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A woman sobbed on the witness stand as she looked at photos of her own bruised and bleeding body and testified against her former spouse in territorial court earlier this month.

The man, 39, was convicted of aggravated assault and threatening a police officer, the latter in relation to a separate incident. In jail awaiting trial since Aug. 16, the man was sentenced on Dec. 4 to 19 months in jail.

The assault happened on Aug. 15 at the woman's home. The couple's four-year-old daughter and newborn were in the two-room apartment with a babysitter at the time.

The victim testified her former partner hit her repeatedly in her face, kicked her and beat her unconscious.

"I tried to call police and he grabbed the phone away and started hitting me and he was punching me in the head," she said. "I was afraid."

She said she woke up bleeding from the nose with her eye swollen shut. She ran to a neighbour's, who called police.

The woman was medevaced to Edmonton, where doctors found she had a fractured cheek bone. She said it was several days before she could see out of her left eye.

Defence lawyer Stephen Shabala suggested the woman had become angry because the man decided to live with another woman. Referencing a statement the woman made to police following the attack, Shabala asked the woman if she'd become upset and threatened to kill herself, grabbing a knife in the kitchen.

"No, I was just upset I'd just had a baby and he hadn't even showed up to see or support her," she said. "I had no knife in my hand whatsoever."

During the cross-examination, her former spouse shook his head as the woman answered.

The man took the stand and denied ever hitting the victim. He said the woman became enraged and "just started swinging" at him.

Pointing to a bald spot on the crown of his head, he said the woman pulled a tuft of hair out.

"She grabbed me by the hair ... I pushed her away from me," he said.

He said she hit her head on the television but he wasn't aware she was injured when he left the apartment.

Both parties admitted to drinking several bottles vodka over the course of the evening.

The man was charged with uttering threats after an earlier incident when, while brandishing a two-by-four piece of lumber, he shouted at a police officer from a residence in Ndilo on May 3.

RCMP Const. Dalyn Flatt, who responded to the complaint call, said he felt threatened when the man shouted that he would knock him out.

"Clearly, (the words) constituted a threat," said Judge Robert Gorin.

Also on Dec. 4, the same man also pleaded guilty to one count of breaching a court order and was fined $200.