A Watson Lake man has been sentenced to 30 months in jail for beating his girlfriend.

Randy Lutz, 29, appeared in territorial court Wednesday afternoon before Judge Michael Block.

He entered guilty pleas to assault causing bodily harm, uttering threats and breaching his probation.

With credit given for time spent in pre-sentence custody, Lutz will serve an additional 19 1/2 months, keeping him at the Whitehorse Correctional Centre.

The sentence was a joint submission by Crown prosecutor Eric Marcoux and Lutz’s lawyer, Melissa Atkinson.

According to an agreed statement of facts, in the early hours of Jan. 1, 2015, Lutz’s then-girlfriend was drinking at her father’s house in Watson Lake.

Lutz arrived at 6 a.m. and asked her to come drink at his dad’s place.

She said no and he “went psycho,” Marcoux said.

He pulled her off the couch by her arm, kicked her in the head, pulled her out of the house by her arms and dragged her down the front steps.

When they neared his aunt’s house, she ran toward it, screaming and banging on the window.

Lutz chased her and pulled her down by her hair, Marcoux said.

The aunt came out of the house and witnessed him kick and punch the woman.

She told him to “settle down and smarten up,” and he replied: “I’m gonna get you. I’m gonna get my gun and shoot you.”

The victim was still yelling for help when Lutz took off, Marcoux said.

Lutz was on probation at the time for assaulting his girlfriend in 2011, and one of his conditions was to have no contact with her.

In a statement, Lutz said he was drunk on a couple of 26-ounce bottles of whisky and doesn’t remember the assault nor even meeting with his girlfriend that night.

But he doesn’t dispute what happened, Atkinson said. His aunt viewed part of the assault, and photos show the injuries the woman sustained after the attack.

Lutz wrote an apology letter to the two women, Atkinson said.

Marcoux pointed to the man’s “extensive” criminal record, with at least six previous violent crimes.

Two years ago, he was sentenced to 32 months in jail for kidnapping the same woman involved in this assault.

The circumstances were similar to this case: he attempted to drag her from her sister’s house when she refused to leave with him one night in 2011, but the sister stopped him.

Later that night, he returned to the home, pushed his way in, dragged his girlfriend downstairs and into his car, and took her to their apartment.

Atkinson said Lutz is Kaska, and struggles with cognitive deficits.

She said she had concerns about him serving his time in federal prison, which would remove him from his community and supports in the Yukon.

Sentences longer than two years send an offender to prison.

The joint submission remedies that concern, she said.

Block agreed to impose the 30-month sentence.

“You have the classic Gladue background of family violence and alcohol,” he said.

He was referring to a 1999 Supreme Court of Canada decision that set out sentencing principles for aboriginal offenders, a response to the overrepresentation of aboriginal people in jails across the country.

“I have to temper the sentence I’m giving you but it has to be a serious sentence,” Block said. “You have a history of serious crimes.”

Lutz told the court he’s been drinking since he was a teenager. He’s tried to quit, but falls back into old ways.

“I’m trying to stay away from people who drink,” he said, but it’s difficult because many of the people in his life do.

“I try, but I don’t know. I know I’ll fail.”

Block sentenced him to 30 months for the assault, six months concurrent for uttering threats and four months concurrent for the probation breach.

Following that, he’ll be on probation for three years.

For the first four months, he must fully abstain from drinking alcohol, and for the first year, he must abide by a curfew.

He’s not allowed to communicate with his girlfriend nor his aunt.

Lutz is also banned from possessing firearms for life.

He must pay $600 in victim fine surcharges.