'Alcohol is a problem for me but I won't drink anymore,' says 20-year-old offender

John McFadden
Northern News Services
Published Tuesday, January 27, 2015

SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A Yellowknife man has been spared further jail time after he was convicted of stealing from vehicles last September in the Frame Lake South area.

Jeremy Kuneyuna, 20, was released from custody after his sentencing hearing on Jan. 23. He had been held at the North Slave Correctional Centre (NSCC) since Dec. 31. Judge Garth Malakoe gave him one and a half days credit for the 24 days he spent in pre-trial custody, including one day in November.

Court heard that Kuneyuna and another man were arrested by RCMP on Sept. 3 as they walked along Range Lake Road at around 2:00 a.m.

Jackie Porter, the Crown prosecutor in the case, said Kuneyuna admitted to the arresting officer that he had been stealing from vehicles. She said police recovered two cellphones, $14 in change and other random items. Porter said Kuneyuna showed the officer which vehicles the phones had been stolen from and the officer was able to return them to their rightful owners.

He was released on a promise to appear with a court date of of Nov. 25. Porter told the court that Kuneyuna failed to show for court that day. He was then re-arrested Nov. 28 and kept overnight in the RCMP cells for missing his court date. He was released with a curfew and a condition that he abstain from drinking alcohol.

Then on Dec. 31 at about 2:20 a.m. Kuneyuna was found on Fairchild Crescent in Northland Trailer Park slumped over and intoxicated in the front seat of a stranger's pick-up truck with the cab light on. He was arrested and charged with mischief. That charge was later withdrawn but Kuneyuna was held at the correctional centre until his court appearance last week.

In calling for a jail sentence of between 30 and 60 days, Porter noted that Kuneyuna has an extensive criminal record.

"Clearly your honour, previous sentences that he has received have not worked as a deterrent to him committing further crimes," Porter told the judge.

Kuneyuna's defence lawyer Tracy Bock told the court that his client had a rough upbringing in Ulukhaktok.

"His father died when he was two years old, and his mother had a serious drug and alcohol problem," Bock said.

He said Kuneyuna told him he was very emotional over the holidays because he couldn't spend time with the two aunts that he lives with in Yellowknife. Bock said Kuneyuna had received counselling for alcohol abuse in the past and wanted to continue with counselling.

Kuneyuna addressed the court before sentencing saying that he realizes that he causes pain when he drinks.

"Alcohol is a problem for me but I won't drink anymore because if I do this is where I will end up if I do," he told the judge.

Malakoe acknowledged the young man's past personal baggage and his problem with alcohol.

"He can pull out of this if he gets his act together," Malakoe said.

"If there is a lesson to be learned here, he will have learned it."

Malakoe told Kuneyuna he was getting a break before sentencing him for possession of stolen property, failing to attend court and breaching his curfew. He placed him on a year's probation and ordered him to receive counselling for substance abuse.