Man gets 3 1/2 years for downtown attack

A Gameti, N.W.T., man was sentenced to three and a half years on Wednesday for attacking a woman on a downtown Yellowknife street.

Bobby Zoe, 32, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting a 23-year-old woman on 53rd Street in January 2011.

Zoe grabbed the woman from behind, pushed her to the ground and demanded her money. She refused. He then held his arm around the woman's neck and sexually assaulted her.

He was stopped by two men who heard the woman's screams and came to her rescue.

Judge Garth Malakoe said Zoe committed the violent crime in the early evening, on a residential street, where the public should feel safe. Malakoe said the victim still suffers from anxiety and is always looking over her shoulder.

Zoe has 16 prior convictions including two sex-related offences. At the time of the attack, Zoe had recently been released from jail, after serving 15 months for sexually touching a minor.

He grew up in Gameti and describes Yellowknife as the 'big city', where he gets into trouble with alcohol. He said he doesn't remember the assault because he was so drunk.

The judge sentenced him to a total of 39 months for sexual assault, attempted robbery and breach of probation. Zoe was credited 15 months for the time he has spent in jail since his arrest in January 2011, and will serve his remaining two years in the territory.

The judge said Zoe would be better served in a territorial rather than a federal facility so he can get counselling closer to home.