A local man found guilty of aggravated assault has avoided his sentencing, at least for now.

A warrant was issued in territorial court Friday afternoon when David Wiebe failed to show up at 1:30 p.m. when arguments for sentencing were to be presented after Judge Dennis Overend had found him guilty of aggravated assault that morning.

Arguments for sentencing and the sentencing for the 2005 offence were put off until Wiebe could be found.

That followed an approximately two-day trial where close to 10 Crown witnesses were called to testify before Wiebe testified in his defence last Thursday afternoon.

During the trial, the court heard from witnesses that Wiebe had come into the bar at the '98 Hotel to get his girlfriend, Corrine Silverfox, to come home for dinner.

Wiebe said she had called him before to let him know she was on her way home to her downtown apartment before he finally went to the bar to get her.

He was told to leave the '98 the first time by bartender Lisa McKenna.

He left then returned about 15 minutes later when he again tried to get Silverfox to come home for supper. In his testimony, Wiebe said he tried to nudge his girlfriend, while other Crown witnesses said he tried to grab her from the chair and she slipped.

It was then that Wiebe was pushed out of the bar by Darryl Hewitt, who had worked at the '98 previously. At the time though, he was there for a drink and had bought Silverfox a beer while Wiebe was there.

Wiebe stayed outside the entrance to the bar, trying to get Silverfox to talk to him, but eventually left when she ignored him.

He told the court that as he was heading home, he saw Hewitt in his car and headed over to see what was going on. When Hewitt got out of his car and looked ready to fight, Wiebe said, he walked away.

When Hewitt testified, he said he didn't remember that part of the incident, but also admitted it may have happened.

When Wiebe got back to Silverfox's apartment, where he was staying, he was let in by another tenant.

Silverfox and Hewitt arrived a little later after driving around town for a bit, the court heard.

Wiebe said as they were coming upstairs, he went down to see what was going on and told Silverfox if she wanted him to leave, he would. He was then pushed up against the wall by Hewitt, he told the court.

Wiebe said he ducked under Hewitt, but as he went down two steps, Hewitt must have still been hanging onto him because Hewitt 'went flying past' him to the bottom.

When Wiebe saw Hewitt start to rise off the floor, he thought he was going to be 'toast' and started hitting him until his hand hurt, and then he started kicking Hewitt.

He later had to go to Whitehorse General Hospital to get his hand treated.

It wasn't until tenant Gloria Jack, who had let him in earlier, told him to stop that he noticed Hewitt was turning blue.

Wiebe and other witnesses told the court he and Silverfox rolled Hewitt on his side, with Silverfox staying with him as Wiebe went to the apartment of the building supervisor and told him to call an ambulance.

He then continued to run in and out of the apartment checking to see if emergency vehicles were on their way.

He eventually ended up going out to flag down an RCMP vehicle.

In finding Wiebe guilty, Overend said he found found the man's testimony unreliable.

Wiebe continued to say he wasn't angry over the course of events on Sept. 13, 2005 as well as the differences between his statement to police and evidence given on the stand.

Overend agreed with Crown counsel Noel Sinclair in that Wiebe was not a tenant of the building, and the right to be there was to be granted by Silverfox.

Sinclair argued that section 34(2) of the Criminal Code, which allows for self-defence when assaulted, as was Wiebe's argument, does not apply because Wiebe was trespassing.

Section 41 allows for force to be used to prevent trespassing on a person's property, as long as it's no more force than necessary.

Overend added he was not satisfied beyond reasonable doubt that Hewitt would have the right to use force to get Wiebe out of the building.

Going back to defence counsel Gord Coffin's argument that it was a case of self-defence, Overend said he was not satisfied that Wiebe believed he was in danger of death or major harm.

'He (Wiebe) fully believed he was about to be beaten up by Mr. Hewitt,' said Coffin in seeking a not guilty verdict in the case.

Section 34(2) of the Criminal Code states: 'Everyone who is unlawfully assaulted and who causes death or grievous bodily harm in repelling the assault is justified if (a) he causes it under reasonable apprehension of death or grievous bodily harm from the violence with which the assault was originally made or with which the assailant pursues his purposes; and (b) he believes, on reasonable grounds, that he cannot otherwise preserve himself from death or grievous bodily harm.'

Overend pointed to Wiebe's testimony where he said that it was no big deal for him to be ejected from the bar by Hewitt.

He also noted that Wiebe went out of his way to approach Hewitt after he got kicked out of the bar when he approached him at the bar.

In conclusion, the judge said, he found Wiebe's evidence unreliable in stating he wasn't angry over what happened through the night leading up to the assault, as well as the manner in how Hewitt ended up falling down the stairs.

The assault, the judge said, was an opportunity taken by Wiebe to get revenge for the events of the evening.