BEHCHOKO/RAE-EDZO - A 35-year-old Behchoko man who told the court he was committed to changing his life was sentenced to four months in jail for assaulting two people and threatening to stab and shoot a roomful of party-goers in January.

"I'm trying to make sense of my life," said Christopher Aaron Rabesca in territorial court March 4, 2011, before Judge Robert Gorin. "I want to be on the path of goodness."

Crown prosecutor Danielle Vaillancourt told the court that on Jan. 2, 2011, the Behchoko RCMP responded to a call at 1:20 a.m. of a man in a home threatening to kill everyone at a party.

Rabesca went to the home intoxicated and violated a court order to have no contact with a woman when he shoved her while she was standing at the kitchen stove cooking.

Rabesca then punched a man in the face who stepped in to help the woman. Finally, Rabesca grabbed a knife and said, "I'm going to stab all of you" to a roomful of people, and then said he was going to "get a gun and shoot all of you." He also shouted profanities at the RCMP as they arrested and removed him from the residence.

For what she described as a "significant amount of violence that night," Vaillancourt requested total jail sentence of six months for all the offences to be served on top of the time Rabesca has spent in custody since his Jan. 2 arrest.

Rabesca's lawyer Stephen Shabala said his client has been living in Yellowknife since 2003, but has family living in Behchoko. Shabala added Rabesca has a drinking problem

While in custody, Shabala said his client successfully completed four weeks of counselling for anger, jealousy, residential school and alcohol issues.

Besides the four-month sentence, Rabesca also received one day in jail for missing a court date on April 7, 2009, in Behchoko. His lawyer explained Rabesca" simply forgot" to show up.

The sentence breaks down as 30 days in jail for assaulting the woman, 60 days for assaulting the man trying to help her and another 30 days for uttering threats in addition to the time he's already served. Gorin also sentenced him to six months probation, ordered him to pay a $200 fine and provide a DNA sample to police.

Gorin also issued a firearms ban for seven years. "You can't expect to go into places and threaten people with guns and expect to keep yours," he said.

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