A man who struck his child with his elbow while attempting to punch his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend was sentenced to 20 days in prison, minus 9 days credit, after taking the stand in his defence.
Following a tw0-hour trial in Inuvik Territorial Court March 9 in which the prosecution called two witnesses and the defence called the defendant, who will not be named to protect the identity of the child victim, Judge Donovan Molloy found the man guilty of assaulting his child. After giving testimony on the incident, the defendant pleaded guilty to assaulting his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend.
"Of course I would be mad. I don't want another person around my kids," said the man while testifying, who added if he had realized he had struck his child he would have stopped.
"Anger got the best of me that day."
He was sentenced to 10 days for each assault. With six days pre-trial custody, he has nine days of credit and will serve 11 days in total. He is also required to provide a DNA sample and will be on probation for 12 months.
All three witnesses confirmed the incident began when the man's ex-girlfriend and her boyfriend had dropped by the man's residence to drop off food for one of the children.
An argument ensued and the man told his ex-girlfriend to take the children. She put them in her truck and went to pick up a child seat. The man was carrying another child seat, but upon seeing his ex-girlfriend's new boyfriend in the truck, dropped the seat and ran towards the vehicle.
The man then opened the door to the back seat where the children were seated and, reaching into the front of the truck, grabbed the other man by the sweater and began throwing punches at him. The victim testified he managed to grab the attacker by the throat and push him out of the truck.
In the confusion, the man's elbow struck one of his children in the head. The child was not seriously injured. After being pushed out of the truck, the attacker then opened the front door of the truck and attempted to kick the victim, but missed. He then went back inside his home and the couple drove away and called police.
Noting this was the man's first criminal conviction, Crown prosecutor Andreas Kuntz asked for two days in prison. Defence lawyer Paul Falvo asked for one day. Judge Molloy rejected both their submissions and imposed his own sentence.
"When you break up a relationship, you have to move on. It does not justify assault. To start throwing fists in the back of a truck where your children are is reckless to say the least," said Molloy in his judgment, adding the attitude displayed by the man was alarming. "When a woman decides to move on and when the man she's left feels he still has claim to her, all too often we see men with that attitude involved in domestic assaults.
"I have no doubt the children were traumatized."