SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - A 62-year-old Yellowknife man who lost his temper and grabbed his wife by the hair, throwing her into a metal stair railing, was spared jail and fined $1,150 in territorial court June 16 for the violent attack.

"I made a mistake and I'm sorry about it," said the offender. "I feel bad about it and I'm sure it won't happen again."

On Oct. 31, 2010, between 5 p.m. and 6 p.m., the accused assaulted his wife over an argument regarding their son's bed not being made, said Crown prosecutor Dan Rideout. He added the complainant reported the incident to police five days after the attack. As a result of her being thrown into the railing. She suffered a bruised shoulder after being thrown into the railing but didn't require medical attention.

The woman is now residing in New Brunswick after the couple separated. Rideout said the early guilty plea should be considered in the offender's favour during sentencing because it spared his wife the inconvenience of a trial.

For what he called an assault that was "brief in nature" and didn't involve any subsequent attacks or threats, Rideout asked Judge Brian Bruser to impose a 30-day jail sentence and probation that included anger management counselling and that he have no contact with the complainant unless she initiates the contact or consents to it. Rideout also requested that Bruser order the man to submit a DNA sample for the RCMP's national data bank.

Rideout submitted the offender's criminal record, which has one previous conviction for assault in 1983. He noted the man's pre-sentence report describes him as having a "controlling personality."

Bruser said he viewed the pre-sentence report as providing favourable details about the offender, and added that having a controlling personality wasn't necessarily a bad thing, depending on the type of household, unless it leads to an offence.

Given the offender's dated criminal background and the circumstances of the attack, Bruser denied Rideout's request for a DNA order.

"I don't see why the police should have his DNA in the national data bank," the judge said.

The judge also denied both Rideout's request for a probation order and a no-contact order with the complainant since she has already initiated the process of reconciliation, said Bruser.

Alex Pringle, the man's lawyer, described his client as an upstanding citizen who runs his own business and is a contributing member of Yellowknife.

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