Behchoko man gets five months jail for punching woman, sexually assaulting man

Yellowknife Courthouse (CKLB File photo).

A Behchoko man has been sentenced to 150 days in jail after he pleaded guilty to punching a woman in the face without provocation and sexually assaulting a male cellmate inside the Behchoko RCMP detachment.

Joey Eyakfwo, 45, apologized to his victims in a Yellowknife courtroom Friday before he was sentenced.

Both incidents happened in March of this year, just over a week apart.

Court heard he gave the woman a bloody nose which sent her to the health centre in the unprovoked attack.

The Crown prosecutor in the case referenced the just-released Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG) final report and said the culture of violence against Indigenous women in the NWT has to stop.

Court also heard that Eyakfwo and his sex assault victim had been lodged in cells to sober up when Eyakfwo groped the man’s private parts while the victim was sleeping.

The victim woke up and punched Eyakfwo in the face.

A jail guard saw the incident happen on a closed-circuit security video camera and reported it to police.

His lawyer says Eyakfwo has no memory of his actions due to his intoxication level adding he is very embarrassed by what occurred.

Eyakfwo’s name will now be placed on the national sex offender registry for a period of ten years.

Taking into account his pre-court custody, Eyakfwo will have 79 days left to serve.

He was also placed on a year’s probation and ordered not to contact his two victims.

About the Author

John McFadden
John has been in the broadcast journalism industry since the 1980s. He has been a reporter in Yellowknife since 2012 and joined CKLB in January of 2018. John covers the crime and court beat as well as reporting on other areas including politics, business, entertainment and sports. He won seven national community newspaper awards while he was a journalist with Northern News Services Limited (NNSL). John worked in Ontario before coming North including stints as a TV sportscaster in Peterborough and senior news writer for CBC and CTV in downtown Toronto.