SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - After spending nearly two months in solitary confinement at the North Slave Correctional Centre while awaiting his sentence, a Yellowknife man with 55 prior convictions told territorial court the experience has made him want to change his life.

"Good for you, Mr. Maniyogina," said Judge Robert Gorin on March 4, before sentencing David Maniyogina, 30, to 14 months in jail minus two months credit for time served in pre-sentence custody.

Maniyogina pleaded guilty to several offences over a few months. Gorin also granted the Crown's request and issued a 10-year firearms ban and ordered the offender to provide a sample of his DNA to police.

Crown prosecutor Janice Walsh told the court the first offence was on Dec. 13, 2010 at 3:30 p.m. when the manager of the downtown liquor store caught Maniyogina trying to shoplift a 750-ml bottle of rum by shoving it down the front of his pants. The manager recognized Maniyogina because he had previously banned him from the store.

The next offences occurred on Jan. 1, 2011 at around 12:30 a.m. when the Yellowknife RCMP received a complaint from a customer at Le Frolic on 48 Street that his 2001 Ford Windstar van was stolen from in front of the bistro. The RCMP passed the van about 20 minutes later and engaged in a slow-speed chase downtown, never exceeding 25 km/h, said Walsh.

Instead of stopping, the passenger door flew open and Maniyogina jumped out of the van and tried to run away, she told the court.

The driver of the van, Kurtis James Thrasher, received eight months in jail on Jan. 17 in territorial court for dangerous driving and possession of the stolen van as well as a $1,500 fine for drunk driving.

Walsh said the third series of offences happened Jan. 5 while Maniyogina was in custody at the North Slave Correctional Centre (NSCC) and went into a "fit of rage." Maniyogina was in the medical facility at NSCC when he suddenly became violent, clenching his fists and yelling. He then pulled a sprinkler in the holding area. Back in his cell, he tore the metal towel rack off the wall, "swinging it like a baseball bat" and smashed a glass door, Walsh said. Maniyogina cut his arm on the jagged metal end of the bar, and only calmed down after being pepper sprayed long enough to be taken to Stanton Territorial Hospital for treatment.

However, when he returned to jail, corrections staff forced Maniyogina into a restraint chair after he started banging his head on the concrete walls in his cell. During the struggle, he spit in the face of a corrections officer and threatened to kill two others "when he sees them on the outside," said Walsh.

For all the offences, Walsh requested an 18-24 month jail sentence and probation.

"Those facts are not disputed," said Maniyogina's lawyer, Stephen Shabala.

Shabala said his client came to Yellowknife in 1999 from his home in Cambridge Bay, and was employed as a maintenance worker at the time of his January arrest. He said his client has been in segregation at NSCC since the Jan. 6 incidents, and that this has had a "significant effect" on him. He asked Gorin for a 10-12 month sentence for Maniyogina, minus credit for time served.

For the Jan. 5 offences, Maniyogina received five months for assaulting a corrections officer, two months for threatening to kill three corrections officers and two months for damaging the toilet handle and the glass door. He received an additional five months for possession of the stolen van and one day for resisting arrest for the Jan.1 offences, and one day in jail for stealing the rum in November.

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