SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A drunk Yellowknife man who lost his temper and broke the front door of a hotel after security guards woke him up from sleeping in the lobby was sentenced to one day in jail and ordered to pay for the damage to the door on April 26 in territorial court.

"I blacked out," said Samuel Tologanak, 50, who apologized to both the Chateau Nova Hotel and Suites and the security guard for trying to kick him.

On Feb. 26, 2011, the Yellowknife RCMP arrived at the hotel and found the "highly intoxicated" Tologanak standing in the doorway with the security guard after smashing the glass pane of the door with his hand, causing $796.06 in damage, said Crown prosecutor Janice Walsh.

Walsh gave Tologanak credit for his guilty plea on April 26, the same day as sentencing; however, she also chastised him for his "terrible" criminal record with 28 prior offences and his "extremely belligerent" attitude toward the RCMP and the security guard. She asked Judge Christine Gagnon to impose a 30-day jail term, a probation order in the range of nine to 12 months, including a condition he be ordered to stay away from the hotel while on probation and that he pay for the door.

Defence lawyer Abdul Khan told the court his client, originally from Cambridge Bay, Nunavut, has been in Yellowknife since November 2010 working as a labourer and staying at the Salvation Army. He added that despite the lengthy criminal record, his client has managed to stay out of trouble for the past 10 years. He asked the judge to impose a fine and said his client would be willing to take alcohol and anger management counselling if he was ordered to do so.

Gagnon agreed with the defence, and said she wasn't going to send Tologanak to jail. Besides the one day in jail sentence, which was satisfied by his court appearance, Tologanak was also sentenced to 12 months of probation, must stay away from the hotel and must take any counselling as directed by a probation officer.

He was also ordered to pay a $50 victims of crime surcharge fine.

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