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Man who bit woman's face gets 10 months Assailant breaks no-contact court orders twice to assault same womanKatherine Hudson Northern News Services Published Wednesday, Nov 7, 2012
Greg Sim, 29, was fighting with a woman in front of the Centre for Northern Families on July 7 at about 9:40 p.m., Crown prosecutor Jacqueline Porter told the Yellowknife courtroom. In the facts read to the court, the victim told the RCMP she and Sim had been drinking at Fort Gary Apartments when an argument with Sim ensued. He slapped her, breaking her glasses, which cut her face. When RCMP arrived on the scene, the woman was inside the women's shelter and Sim had fled. The woman told the officers Sim had wanted more alcohol and was going to her hotel room at the Yellowknife Inn to retrieve it. Officers went to the hotel to find Sim but the room was empty. The next day at 12:30 a.m. RCMP officers noticed a man jaywalking and stopping traffic on Franklin Avenue and stopped to talk with him. It was Sim, with glassy eyes and slurred speech. RCMP arrested him for assault and released him on an undertaking to not drink alcohol and to stay away from the victim. Two days later on July 10 at 11:30 p.m., RCMP received a complaint of a fight at Fort Gary Apartments. When they arrived at the scene, Sim was walking away from the same woman in the prior assault. He was holding a mickey of vodka which was one-third full. He was arrested for failing to comply with the court order and released again on July 13 with another order not to have contact with the victim. On July 23 at 11:45 p.m., RCMP received a complaint of a domestic assault taking place outside the Centre for Northern Families. Sim had punched the victim in the kidney area and bitten her face. When RCMP arrived at the scene, the victim was holding a cloth to her face. She was taken to Stanton Territorial Hospital to be checked out. Sim had started walking toward the downtown area but was quickly apprehended by RCMP and arrested for assault and breaching court conditions. Porter said Sim had a substantive criminal record for a 29 year old with 58 convictions, and a history of breaking no-contact provisions. Porter asked for 14 to 16 months in custody and a probation order to not contact the victim. "Our society has no tolerance for this sort of behaviour," she said. Sim's defence lawyer, Jay Bran, said the Crown's sentence request was "extremely high and harsh and excessive." He said the assault could have been more serious. It came forward in court that the bite on the victim's cheek was superficial and did not break the skin. Bran said Sim has "done a fairly good job of staying out of trouble" with the last brush with the court system occurring in 2010. Bran asked for a sentence of seven to eight months and one year of probation. Judge Garth Malakoe said Sim seemed to be quick to ignore court orders on two different occasions. "What is troubling is not the extent of the injuries. What is troubling is the fact that these events occurred over a short period of time," said Malakoe. Malakoe broke down his 10-month sentence to three months for the first assault, five months for the second assault and one month each for the breaches of the court order - to be serve concurrently. Sim has been in custody since July 23, for a total of 106 days. This time will be shaved off the sentence, said Malakoe. Once released, Sim is under probation for 12 months where he must actively participate in counselling and have no contact with the victim unless he is sober and she consents to contact. The victim was sitting in the courtroom on Thursday and was asked by Porter if she wanted contact with Sim when he was released, to which she said yes. When Sim had an opportunity to speak for himself, he said he would like to apologize to the victim. "Sorry," said Sim as he turned around from the defence table. "Take care of yourself."
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