Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
An assault victim broke down in court on Wednesday, weeping as she listened to the judge read the verdict.

Mary Cleary couldn't believe it when she heard her attacker, Jacob Scott Griep, would be punished for his crimes.

"I was scared to cry because I thought the judge would set him free," said Cleary. "It's good (he was convicted). At least he won't hurt another person anymore."

Griep, 28, appeared in court on Tuesday on charges of theft, aggravated assault, and failure to comply with the conditions of his probation.

Territorial court Judge Christine Gagnon ruled Griep was guilty of all charges. She sentenced him to 30 months in jail with 177 days subtracted for time already served. Griep also received an order to submit a sample of his DNA and is prohibited from possessing firearms for 10 years. During the trial, witnesses gave testimony about Griep's theft and assault on April 24 at the downtown Extra Foods.

Intoxicated, Griep entered the grocery store at 3 p.m. whereupon he proceeded to steal $70 worth of steak. Employees noted that Griep hid the meat in the pockets of his parka and when confronted by the employees, Griep threw the meat away and ran for the exit.

On his way to the door, Griep bumped into 63-year-old Cleary who was standing by a till and near the exit. After bumping into her, Griep turned around, grabbed the victim, and threw her to the ground.

"I remember a young kid grabbed my jacket and threw me down to the ground," said Cleary to the court as she clutched the front of her shirt near the neck. "I went face down into the floor and broke my glasses ... I blacked out."

Cleary was taken to Stanton Territorial Hospital, suffering from a broken left eye socket, a fractured wrist, and cracked ribs. Shortly after she arrived at the hospital she was medevaced to the University of Alberta Hospital in Edmonton. There she received surgery on her injured eye socket.

"Sometimes I still get cloudy vision. I can't see with the eye," said Cleary, whose eye is still partially swollen.

Cleary, who walks with a cane, is currently dealing with an eye infection from the surgery and said she is afraid to go out anymore.

"This is an act of violence against me that should never have happened," stated Cleary in her victim impact statement.

She wore an eye patch for one-and-a-half weeks and had a cast on her wrist and suffered pain in her ribs for five weeks following the attack. She also underwent five weeks of physiotherapy for her broken wrist.

RCMP arrested Griep an hour later at the Dene Ko day shelter on 51 Street where Const. Nick Leblanc and Cpl. Rob Nason noted Griep was still intoxicated.

Griep told the court he had been drinking with friends outside a liquor store where he consumed a quarter of a 750-millilitre bottle of Private Stock whiskey, half a mickey of Smirnoff vodka, and two bottles of hand sanitizer.

During her sentencing, the judge noted that the attack on Cleary was "quite brutal" and that Griep's addiction issues "had taken over" and have made him a danger to the community.

Griep has been convicted of 16 prior thefts, 25 property offences, and 30 breaking probation offences. He also had one prior conviction for common assault but this was the first time he has been convicted for the more serious charge of aggravated assault.

During sentencing, Griep's lawyer noted that his client was a "low functioning individual" with a Grade 9 education. He stated that Griep started having problems with the law when his parents divorced and his family life became dysfunctional. The breakdown in Griep's family structure led to him becoming homeless and stealing to survive, according to Tom Boyd, his lawyer. Boyd also said his client was an admitted alcoholic who had drunk hand sanitizer and would steal his mother's sleeping pills to get high.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.