A woman from Lower Post, B.C., was sentenced Thursday to more than nine months in jail for impaired driving at close to three times the legal limit in Watson Lake.

Martha Stewart, 49, had entered a guilty plea on the incident from April, the latest in a string of drunk driving convictions dating back to 1982.

In territorial court Thursday afternoon, Judge James Plemel handed Stewart 9 1/2 months, minus 100 days for time served in pre-sentence custody.

A five-year driving ban will apply upon release.

"Consider yourself lucky that you didn't kill or injure anyone,” Plemel told Stewart.

"Day after day in the courts in Canada, we (hear about) people who are killed or injured on the highways.

"You don't want to hurt anybody, we know that ... but the time to think about it is before you get into the car,” Plemel added.

He noted Stewart's blood-alcohol level — 2.30 — at the time of arrest.

"If you don't think about it, bad, bad things happen.”

The judge cited denunciation and deterrence as a key factor in the sentence, reiterating an argument by the Crown.

"Parliament and our legislation say that deterrence is very significant ... because it presents such a significant risk to people who are on the road,” said Crown lawyer Susan Bogle.

"It sends a message ... that this type of behaviour won't be tolerated.”

In considering the sentence, the judge also acknowledged "the history of residential abuse and poverty and colonialism that has affected you greatly, and your parents before you.”

Stewart stood to address the judge, tears running down her cheeks.

"I've tried so hard and I can't seem to — I don't think this is the right place to be stuck, in jail, without no treatment or anything,” she said.

Stewart also submitted a letter, which defence lawyer David Tarnow read to the court: "‘I grew up with alcoholic parents, and then residential school, and then from one foster home to the next.'”

Stewart went at age five to a residential school — Lower Post's, which closed in 1975, around the time Stewart would have left it, was considered one of the most abusive in the system — where she said she suffered emotional, physical and sexual abuse for four years.

Defence lawyer David Tarnow said Stewart hopes to access counselling and support, which are in fact offered as several programs at the Whitehorse Correctional Centre.

On April 11, Watson Lake RCMP followed up on an anonymous complaint and found Stewart at a gas station at around 4:30 p.m.

She showed "obvious signs of impairment” like slurred speech and "bloodshot, glassy eyes,” police stated.

Officers searched her vehicle and found a half-empty bottle of vodka.

Both a roadside screening test and a breathalyzer test at the police station pinned her at 230 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.

Drivers caught at more than 170 milligrams — 80 is the legal limit — automatically receive steeper penalties.

Stewart was already under a five-year driving ban, issued in November 2013, as well as a court order to keep the peace and be of good behaviour.

She had been released from custody just two days earlier following a previous drunk driving incident.

She was also required to abstain from drinking, according to another release order.

The Crown argued that on top of Stewart's criminal record, other aggravating factors included the time of day — "people are expected to be out in the afternoon,” raising the risk of injury or death — blood-alcohol level and the earlier driving prohibition.

The judge imposed a second five-year driving ban, beginning on her date of release.

A mandatory surcharge of $400 also applies, to be paid by February 2015.

"I really want to urge you to take advantage of the programs that are offered in the correctional facility,” Plemel told Stewart.