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SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Two young men will remain behind bars for a couple of years after robbing a cab driver last December.

Both Brent Michael, 20, of Yellowknife and Sean Qitsualik, 27, of Pond Inlet were sentenced Tuesday on one count each of robbery.

"Both of you are very young and have your whole lives ahead of you, but I hope you use your time in custody to address your issues," said Supreme Court Justice Louise Charbonneau during sentencing. "I hope this is the last time I see you in court."

Michael received 30 months and one week for the robbery, but is being given credit for seven months of time already served. After his release from jail, he will serve two years of probation and is not to have contact with Qitsualik.

Qitsualik was sentenced to 26 months in jail plus a week. Unlike Michael, he had been released from jail for several weeks but wound up incarcerated again on a 60-day sentence for robbing Willy's Convenience Store in January.

Qitsualik was also given a year of probation and is to abstain from alcohol during that period. As well, he was ordered to not have contact with Michael.

Both must comply with a 10-year firearms ban and have their DNA entered in the national offenders' registry.

On Dec. 3, 2011 at about 4 a.m., a cab was called to the Village Reddi Mart near Byrne Road. Michael got in the front passenger seat, while Qitsualik got in the back. Michael pulled out a six- to seven-inch stick and held it about five centimeters from the cabbie's ribs with the intent to steal money. Court heard that Michael knocked the centre console over and made a mess in the cab.

The driver gave Michael $20 to $30 before the two exited the cab and ran toward Northland Trailer Park. After the taxi driver phoned police, the RCMP set up a perimeter and Michael was later found by a police dog near a trailer home and arrested. Michael admitted his guilt to police and named Qitsualik as his accomplice. Qitsualik was arrested the next day.

As Yellowknifer previously reported, Qitsualik and Michael also faced charges of attempting to rob another Yellowknife cab driver that same night. However, the Crown said it will be staying all other related charges against the pair.

Charbonneau said she decided not to send the two to a federal penitentiary in the south but stressed that robbing a cab driver is an especially serious offence. Because the crime was committed with a stick as a weapon, and because cab drivers are vulnerable in that they carry cash and work alone at night, the degree of seriousness was very high, she said.

"Thankfully we can't say that this type of crime is prevalent in Yellowknife, but I want to make it clear that this type of conduct will get a stern response from the court," the judge said.

There aren't many differences in the personal situations of the two offenders, according to Charbonneau, but she said she took Michael's diagnosed fetal alcohol syndrome into account in her decision. The pre-sentence report made note of Michael's motivation in the robbery being to obtain money to buy crack cocaine, which he had smoked not long before the crime.

As for Qitsualik, she noted that because he pleaded guilty and requested to receive addictions treatment, he was showing remorse for the crime.

- with files from Laura Busch

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