A 41-year-old man who assaulted his common-law partner in downtown Yellowknife was spared jail time in NWT territorial court Monday.
Chief Judge Christine Gagnon handed down a sentence of 12 months probation after the man plead guilty to one count of assault related to a Nov. 12, 2017 incident in the city's core.
Yellowknifer isn't publishing the defendant's name in order to protect the identity of the victim.
The pair, who had been drinking, were walking downtown when the woman stopped to urinate.
She asked the man to stand watch as a look out while she relieved herself.
Unprovoked, the man threw the woman's bag and pushed her to the ground.
The woman had previously sustained a neck injury that left her vulnerable to further harm – a fact Crown prosecutor Jay Potter said the defendant was aware of when he assaulted her.
Potter, who sought a custodial sentence of four months, highlighted the man's lengthy criminal record – one that dates back to the 1990s and includes multiple convictions for assault.
The man was convicted of assault with a weapon in 2008 and again in 2010 for assault, receiving a 60 day sentence for the latter offence.
In 2013, he spent 120 days in jail for assaulting the same woman he pushed late last year.
The man's lawyer, defence attorney Stephanie Whitecloud-Brass, emphasized her client's ongoing battle with alcoholism – an addiction that has seen him resort to drinking Listerine and hand sanitizer.
His drinking problem, coupled with the abuse he suffered as a child at a residential school, have left the man with “a lot of anger,” Whitecloud-Brass said.
Whitecloud-Brass asked Chief Judge Gagnon to consider alternatives – like counseling – to jail time.
While she didn't want to “minimize” the assault on the victim, Whitecloud-Brass noted the nature of the assault – a push – and asked the judge to render her decision accordingly.
Gagnon cited the “significant gap” in the man's criminal record, with the his last conviction being entered in December 2013, and stressed that a sentence must proportionately reflect the offence, which was a push.
Along with the year-long probation sentence, the man must keep the peace and refrain from consuming alcohol.
He is barred from contacting the victim – whom he said he, “loves with all his heart” in court Monday – unless she permits communication.
Under a “24-hour cool off” order, the man must leave the presence of his common-law partner at her request and wait 24 hours before returning.