SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A woman is shaken after she woke to a bloodied intruder standing on her back deck.

Jamal Begg, 13, stands by his back door which he witnessed smashed by a bloodied man early Saturday morning. The family has repaired the window with plywood while they wait for possible compensation for the damage. - photo courtesy of Nadira Begg

Nadira Begg, who lives on 52 Street with her 13-year-old son, says she was sleeping when her dog began barking incessantly. She got up to investigate her back door and didn't see anything, but her dog wouldn't stop barking.

She went to her back door a second time, certain someone must be there because of the dog. Suddenly her motion lights flicked on, lighting up a man standing in her doorway.

"I looked at him, he had blood smeared across both sides of his face," Begg said.

Begg screamed at the man, telling him he didn't belong there and that she was calling the RCMP. The man didn't leave, so she picked up the phone to call.

"The motion lights were still on, I saw his hand raised and he put it through the window," Begg said.

After smashing their window, Begg said the man left the back deck. When the RCMP arrived minutes later, he was standing in their driveway and was arrested.

Police said based on Begg's statement, the man would be charged with mischief. They allegedly told Begg because the man hadn't entered her home he couldn't be charged with break and enter.

Minor mischief charges carry a maximum sentence of no more than two years in jail.

Begg, who's son Jamal was also home and witnessed the glass breaking, said she was concerned what might happen because of the recent sexual assaults.

"It was scary. How am I going to keep (my son) safe? What is this guy thinking? Why would he be on my back deck?"

A life-long Yellowknifer, Begg said she's no stranger to downtown drunkenness and bad behaviour, though she admits things might be getting worse. A week before her door was broken, Begg said she saw a man trying to break into her and her neighbours' cars.

"Lately it seems like things are a little rougher than they have been."

Begg said she's not sure what she can do in response to the incident. She credits her dog with keeping her and her son safe.

"If I didn't have my dog there, I probably would have just continued sleeping. It was three in the morning."

RCMP were unable to provide comment on the status of the man they arrested by press time.

Begg said she's been told to keep receipts of her door repairs for the possibility the accused would have to pay for the damages.

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