SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A 36-year-old man who entered a Yellowknife residence and stole another man's wallet, laptop and cellphone was sentenced to 30 months in jail Wednesday in Supreme Court.

Justice Wallace Darichuk accepted the joint sentencing recommendation from Crown prosecutors Duane Praught and Janice Walsh and defence lawyer Thomas Boyd, and sentenced Christopher Jones to 30 months in jail minus 22-and-a-half months credit for time served since his Dec. 20, 2009 arrest. Even though Jones only served 15 months in pre-trial custody, he was given a credit of 1.5 days for each day served, meaning he has seven-and-a-half months left to serve.

The maximum penalty for robbery is life in prison, said Darichuk.

On Tuesday, Praught told the court, Jones entered a man's residence on 47 Street on Dec. 9, 2009 and punched and slapped him in the face while he was lying on a couch in the livingroom. The man fell to the floor, where a witness in the residence saw Jones kneeing the victim in the head and heard Jones yell "where's my money?"

After the victim said he didn't have the money, Jones grabbed the man's wallet from his pants pocket and took a Toshiba laptop computer and cellphone before leaving the residence.

Two days later, the victim reported the incident to the Yellowknife RCMP. The police photographed his injuries, which consisted of scratches and bruises on the bridge of his nose and left side of his face. Jones was arrested on Dec. 20, 2009, and has been in custody ever since. He was ordered to stand trial after a two-day preliminary inquiry on June 24, 2010. However, Jones negated the need for a trial on Monday by pleading guilty to robbery. The Crown stayed a second charge of assault.

Praught said Jones' criminal record contains 46 prior convictions with 18 related to offences of violence. He suggested to the court the victim owed Jones money as repayment for three ounces of crack cocaine that was purchased from a third party. Praught reminded the court that even though the victim, now 19, wasn't an "upstanding citizen," - he received a 20-month jail sentence for drug trafficking on March 14, 2010 - he was still a victim in the attack.

Defence lawyer Thomas Boyd told the court his client is originally from Jamaica but moved to Toronto at the age of 14. He came to Yellowknife in May 2009 and met the victim at a house party. At some point, he lent the victim an undisclosed amount of money with the expectation of being repaid by Christmas. However, Boyd said Jones became "fed up" with the victim giving him the "run around" with repayment. Boyd disputed the claim that the money was owed was part of a drug transaction. He also reminded the court that no weapons were used in the robbery and the door of the residence wasn't damaged.

Besides the jail term, Darichuk also imposed a lifetime firearms ban and ordered Jones to provide a sample of his DNA to police. Jones also received one year of probation and was ordered to have no contact with the victim, the witness and another man.

It wasn't revealed in court how much money was in the victim's wallet.

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