SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A 28-year-old Yellowknife man currently serving the remainder of a four-year prison term was back in territorial court Jan. 25 after being sentenced for assaulting a man while on a work-release program.

Crown prosecutor Danielle Vaillancourt told the court that on Nov. 27, 2010, at around 11:10 p.m., John Koyczan went to the residence of a woman he knew and assaulted her boyfriend, punching him in the face several times and then kneeing him in the ribs. The man suffered bruised ribs and a bruise to his left eye. She requested a 60 to 90 day sentence for the offence.

Koyczan's lawyer, Serge Petitpas, asked for a 60-day sentence, and told the court his client is suspended from further work release programs as a result of the incident.

Koyczan said he has issues to take care of before his release from prison.

"Jealousy is one of them," he said.

Judge Christine Gagnon sentenced Koyczan to 60 days in custody, which will be added to the four-year prison term he received Sept. 26, 2007 for a brutal sexual assault in 2001. Gagnon also ordered Koyczan to provide a DNA sample to authorities if he hadn't already done so.

However, it was Koyczan's DNA that was at the heart of the 2001 sexual assault. In August of that year, he sexually assaulted a 17-year-old girl at Somba K'e Park, who had just moved to Yellowknife from British Columbia. The victim was drinking vodka with Koyczan and four other men, but when she tried to leave, she was knocked unconscious. She awoke hours later to find her underwear and pants on inside out and she was covered in scrapes and bruises. She had damage to her teeth and her mouth was swollen and bleeding.

The next day, DNA later matched to Koyczan was taken from the victim's underwear and placed in a sexual assault kit. However, the kit remained in a police locker for four years and Koyczan was only charged in May 2006. At the time, the RCMP explained the reason for the delay was due to the case being handed from one investigator to another, and the high volume of cases at the Yellowknife headquarters.

As part of his 2007 sentence, Koyczan's name was included in the National Sex Offender Registry for 20 years and he was banned from possessing firearms for 10 years.

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