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Behchoko man awaits sentencing in 'cruel' and violent home invasion

A Behchoko man who kicked and punched an abruptly woken resident during a violent and “cruel” 2016 home invasion will learn his fate at a sentencing hearing next month.

Twenty-one-year-old Jacob Smith-Lafferty, who scanned court files and swayed in his chair during a facts and sentencing hearing in NWT Supreme Court Tuesday, pleaded guilty to one count of breaking and entering and committing an indictable offence.

The plea and subsequent conviction, the court heard, stem from a home invasion that left one man bloodied and beaten.

In the early hours of Feb. 8, 2016, a man sleeping in an apartment unit in Behchoko was awoken to his door being kicked in.

Two men entered.

Smith-Lafferty and the other man, whose charges were stayed by the Crown when Smith-Lafferty changed his not guilty plea to guilty, dragged the victim into a washroom before kicking and punching him, damaging the room in the process.

Smith-Lafferty knew of the victim, but they weren't well acquainted.

While Crown prosecutor Jay Potter acknowledged the break and enter was “unsophisticated,” and the injuries sustained by the victim were minor - a bloody nose and bruised face - but called the crime “very serious and cruel.”

The victim, Potter said, had his right to privacy abruptly and violently taken away at a most vulnerable moment.

The motive of the of home invasion, Potter said, was to find more beer.

While Potter acknowledged no weapons or disguises were used during the break and enter, he called for a two-year sentence followed by three-years probation, citing the “recklessness” of the crime, the right to privacy in the small community and the two on one beating Smith-Lafferty partook in.

Pointing to inter-generational trauma and substance abuse issues - he started drinking at 13 - present in his Indigenous client’s life,  Smith-Lafferty's lawyer, Steven Fix, called for a much lighter sentence.

Citing Smith-Lafferty's remorse and eagerness to enter addictions treatment through probation, Fix asked for a 12 to 18 month sentence.

With the Crown and the defence “significantly” apart on sentencing, Justice Andrew Mahar said he'd reserve his decision, adjourning sentencing to Aug. 7.

Standing to address Mahar, Smith-Lafferty expressed regret for his actions.

“I just want to take care my kids,” said Smith-Lafferty.