IQALUIT - An Iqaluit woman who drunkenly assaulted her common-law spouse with a bread knife was sentenced to house arrest last month.

"I'm going to force you to dry up instead of you spinning your wheels at the women's centre," said Justice Earl Johnson at the Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit on Feb. 21.

The 29-year-old woman pleaded guilty to two counts of assault with a weapon causing bodily harm.

Johnson sentenced her to 60 days of house arrest and a six-month conditional sentence.

On Dec. 29, 2010, her spouse of two years called the RCMP saying she was inside the residence they shared along with a roommate and was intoxicated.

The spouse said she had pulled a bread knife on him. He sustained a cut on his forehead. She had hit him six times on the head with a phone and bit his legs.

The roommate managed to pin her down with the knife in hand.

Defence lawyer Christian Lyons told the court how on that day his client had been "extremely intoxicated," was blacking out and had to be taken to the hospital afterwards.

Lyons said the woman, who was born in Rankin Inlet, was adopted as a child and moved to Ottawa with her family when she was 16 years old. She did not return North to Iqaluit when her family moved back several years ago.

He said while in Ottawa, the woman became addicted to crack cocaine and that she stills considers herself an addict.

Instead of doing crack, she turned to alcohol.

She has two children, one who lives with her parents and the other has been adopted in Winnipeg.

At the time of the assault, the roommate in the home, Lyons said, was a heavy drinker and drug user. The woman's spouse does not drink at all.

"Her living circumstances were less than ideal," said Lyons.

He said his client has completed a 60-day treatment program and had been sober for the 55 days prior to her court appearance. She has been kept in custody since Dec 29, 2010, at the Nunavut Women's Correctional Centre in Iqaluit.

This was not the first time the woman had assaulted her spouse. On May 5, 2010 she was charged with aggravated assault and also on March 2009.

"She has been given chances to serve these sentences in the community and it is aggravating that it continues to be the same victim," Crown prosecutor Michelle Baldwin said, and asked the judge for a sentence of eight months in jail.

The woman's spouse was in court as was her father.

"When (she) is not under the influence she is very sharp, bright and talented person who I love," said her spouse.

Johnson said he hopes his sentence is a wake-up call. The woman has to remain in and within 10 metres of the home she shares with her spouse, 24 hours a day, seven days a week for 60 days starting on Feb. 21.

She is permitted to leave between 2 and 6 p.m. to meet with her probation officer or to go to Alcoholics Anonymous meetings but must be accompanied by her spouse or her father.

Johnson also wanted to ensure the roommate previously residing with the pair would not be living at the same residence.

"If this woman has a drink, it's a one way wild ride to violence," Johnson said.

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