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Court Briefs
Another guilty plea in stabbing case
Dan Campbell
Northern News Services
Published Friday, August 16, 2013
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
An attempted murder charge was withdrawn in the Nov. 29 stabbing of a 44-year-old Yellowknife man.
Tyson Ruben-Bucher, 19, pleaded guilty to assault with a weapon on Tuesday. His attack left the victim hospitalized with multiple stab wounds to his torso.
Sentencing will take place in Territorial Court in Yellowknife on Sept. 11.
Dean Ruben, 23, was also involved in the attack and initially charged with attempted murder. He pleaded guilty to aggravated assault last week. Ruben will be sentenced on Sept. 4.
Ruben-Bucher appeared in court via video on Tuesday from the North Slave Correctional Centre, where he will remain until his sentencing.
Workers' safety charges
The Workers' Safety and Compensation Commission laid three charges against a Yellowknife contractor for breaching the Safety Act and General Safety Regulations of the Northwest Territories.
The commission alleges a manager at YK Construction Management failed to take reasonable precautions to ensure the health and safety of workers. Specifically, the manager failed to instruct each worker on performing their duties safely.
A worker was seriously injured at a work site in Yellowknife under the management of the charged employee.
The manager is scheduled to appear in territorial court in Yellowknife on Sept. 17.
Drunk driving fine
A 23-year-old Yellowknife man pleaded guilty to impaired driving charges on Tuesday.
He was stopped by RCMP after bar-close, downtown on Franklin Avenue on July 14. One of his headlights was burnt out.
Officers noticed tell-tale signs of intoxication and detained the man.
At the detachment, the man agreed to a breathalyzer, blowing nearly three times the legal limit.
Judge Bernadette Schmaltz handed the man a $1,500 fine plus a $225 victim of crime surcharge. He's also prohibited from driving for 15 months.
Year of crime
A 36-year-old Yellowknife man was sentenced to 40 days in jail for a string of offences over the past year on Wednesday.
Floyd Dick was given a six-and-a-half month sentence for two counts of marijuana possession, one count of possessing a prohibited blade, one count of possession of stolen property and three counts of breaching court conditions.
His sentenced was reduced to 40 days because he'd already served 155 days in jail, for which he was given full credit by Judge Bernadette Schmaltz.
Dick had been banned from entering the Centre Square Mall in Yellowknife but was caught there by RCMP three times this year, breaching his court conditions. He was found to have an illegal switchblade on his person and marijuana on Jan. 25.
The accused was also found to have a stolen Canada Goose parka on his person on Feb. 13, and again breached his condition by entering the Centre Square Mall on Feb. 18.
RCMP received a complaint on March 12 that Dick was in the mall again, selling marijuana. He was apprehended by police and taken into custody where he's remained.
Defence lawyer Gary Wool said his client had a difficult upbringing and "finds conflict with authority."
Schmaltz was unsure which of Dick's crimes were the most serious, but told him he needed to get over his problem with authority.
"Mr. Dick, you've got to change your attitude," Schmaltz said before sentencing him.
The accused has a lengthy criminal record, including 30 convictions, many for theft and property offences.
Dick will be required to pay a $350 victim of crime surcharge.
Sentencing postponed for face biting case
Sentencing of a Yellowknife man convicted of disfiguring a woman's face during a vicious assault was postponed Wednesday as Supreme Court Justice Shannon Smallwood asked for more time to consider how much credit the accused should receive for the 17 months he spent in custody prior to his conviction.
Mark Inuktalik previously pleaded guilty to aggravated assault related to an attack on a woman on March 18.
During that assault, Inuktalik bit the face and arm of the woman, who required 22 stitches and plastic surgery to repair her nose and upper lip.
"I just want to apologize to (the victim)," Inuktalik said to the court. "I know she's going through a hard time and I feel sick about it."
Defence lawyer Gary Wood asked that his client receive time-and-a-half credit toward his sentence for his time in custody. He argued that Inuktalik "did not get to participate in programs that would have been of a benefit to him," such as family violence counselling and substance abuse programming.
Inuktalik is now scheduled to be sentenced today at 10 a.m.
- Laura Busch
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