The former Whitehorse bouncer who assaulted a drunk patron outside of Coaster's nightclub in the fall of 2007 will go to jail for more than a year, a Yukon Supreme Court judge ruled Thursday.

Last June, a jury found Clinton Derkson, now of Surrey, B.C., guilty of aggravated assault.

His sentencing was put off until this week because the court had to wait for a pre-sentence report to be filed by the Surrey probation services.

The report was ordered after Derkson's then-lawyer, Dan Geller, asked the judge for a conditional sentence, one to be served outside of jail.

But it was that very report which ultimately convinced Justice Ted Richard to give Derkson, 24, the sentence the Crown prosecutor suggested: 15 months behind bars.

"Although this was a one-punch case, the punch was – in the vernacular – a sucker punch,” Richard said during the sentencing hearing.

He described how Derkson had slugged a very drunk patron in the side of the head as they stood outside of Coaster's, watching another bar employee tussle with the victim's friend.

The young man, a diamond driller from Ontario, suffered a fractured jaw and skull and couldn't work for more than two months after the attack, according to his victim impact statement.

Since the incident, the victim has suffered from "depression, anger, bitterness,” the judge noted.

In his interview with the probation officer who wrote the pre-sentence report, Derkson complained the man had a "glass jaw”, and said he would have done more than just punch him had he known he would go to jail because of it.

Richard was not impressed.

"It is the court's view that this offender does not yet see the seriousness of his conduct,” the judge said after reading the report.

Throughout the interview, Derkson showed a "cavalier attitude toward the justice system and the sentencing process,” the judge said, and "he does not appear to have any empathy for the victim.”

Rather than taking responsibility for his actions, Derkson "appears to blame the Crown witness for his current predicament,” Richard added.

The Crown's case against Derkson was based largely on the eyewitness testimony of another Coaster's employee who said the punch was completely unprovoked.

Shortly after the jury found Derkson guilty, he was once again in court because the woman who testified against him complained he was trying to contact her and she felt threatened. He was ordered not to communicate with her in any way.

In rejecting the suggestion of a conditional sentence for Derkson, Richard stressed the principle of denunciation. He said time served outside the walls of the Whitehorse Correctional Centre would not send the right message to other bouncers who may be tempted to use undue force on drunken patrons.

The sentence given to Derkson should serve to remind those in the security business that "even extremely intoxicated and extremely obnoxious (people) are entitled to protection under the law,” he said.

After hearing his sentence, Derkson hugged his father and sobbed aloud.