An Inuvik man has been sentenced to two years in jail after he pleaded guilty in a Yellowknife court to assault causing bodily harm on his then girlfriend and sexually assaulting her mother later that same night.
CKLB is not identifying the man in order to protect the identities of his two victims.
Court heard he was drinking with both women in March of last year at the mother’s home.
He and the younger woman then went to his home where they got into an argument.
The man hit her in the face, giving her a black eye.
He then went back to the mother’s place where she had gone to sleep but awoke to find the man sexually assaulting her.
She chased him from her home with a baseball bat.
The man’s lawyer told the court that his client has no recollection of the events due to his intoxication level.
The lawyer also said that the man was neglected as a child and was at one point apprehended by NWT Health and Social Services and placed in foster care.
There was also alcohol abuse and violence in his home, the lawyer said, adding that the man may also suffer from Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD).
Before sentencing the man Wednesday, the judge said that she took into account the man’s traumatic upbringing but added that jail is still necessary for both offences, particularly the sexual assault, something she said is all too common in the NWT.
The man will also be on two years probation once he gets out of jail and his name will be placed on the national sex offender registry.
He is also to have no contact with the victims unless it is to apologize – something he told the judge that he wants to do.
Taking into account his pre-sentence custody, the man will have about one year left to serve.
