A mentally ill man who'd been ordered to leave the territory and not return is back in a Whitehorse courtroom today after getting off the airplane originally destined to help him get out of the Yukon.

Three days ago, 40-year-old Douglas Robert Mills was headed for a 30-day stint in a Saskatchewan psychiatric hospital so a forensic psychiatrist could determine whether he was fit to stand trial.

But after a last-ditch effort by the head of Yukon's legal aid system to talk to the man, Mills pleaded guilty to a pair of charges on Friday morning. He was sentenced to time served and was headed Outside on an airplane the next day.

It was actually the second time Mills had been ordered to leave the Yukon, and it's the second time he didn't quite make it Outside.

Originally from B.C., Mills was arrested for the first time last Jan. 29 in Whitehorse, accused of assault and causing a ruckus with the police officers who arrived to arrest him.

Last Feb. 23, he pleaded guilty to the assault, and received one day in jail. He also admitted to property mischief for damaging an RCMP detachment cell.

For that charge, deputy Judge Dennis Overend gave Mills one year of probation. Except for the usual conditions of keeping the peace and letting the court know where he was living, Mills' only requirement was to not be found within the Yukon's boundaries after Feb. 24.

As of March 3, Mills was on his way Outside, but was kicked off the bus in Teslin because he was drinking on the bus, explained prosecutor Kevin Drolet Friday after Mills' sentencing.

On Friday, Drolet had brought the matter back to court to ask a judge to amend the 30-day psychiatric order, not conduct a sentencing.

After the man exhibited strange behaviour at his April 22 preliminary hearing, deputy Judge Gail Maltby had ordered Mills be sent Outside to either B.C. or Alberta forensic hospitals, the two places the Yukon usually sends accused in need of assessments. Many of the man's court appearances have been marked by outbursts.

After making the order, Maltby had cautioned against dumping Mills in the Whitehorse Correctional Centre's Segregation 1 cell.

Last month, chief Judge Heino Lilles soundly criticized the Justice department for placing another mentally ill man in the spartan isolation cell. The department has since been commended by the same judge for going above and beyond to help other accused in the same situation.

Meanwhile, Mills, who suffers from a personality disorder, was well into his second month in general population at WCC on what the Crown called 'fairly minor charges' from the Teslin disturbance.

In Mills' case, the department had found a bed at a Saskatchewan hospital, but the Crown needed a judge to amend the order.

The matter also had to come back to court to have a lawyer appointed for Mills, who up to that point had refused to be represented by counsel.

If the court has reasonable grounds to believe an accused may be unfit to stand trial, the court must appoint counsel, explained Drolet. In late April, Maltby did not appoint counsel for Mills.

Nils Clarke, executive director for legal aid, arrived at the Law Courts Friday at the Crown's request and spoke to Mills. The defence lawyer let the court know he was able to get instructions from Mills, and though the man may be mentally ill, he doesn't have a mental disorder that would preclude him from having criminal responsibility.

Clarke is being credited with saving the territory the $25,000 to $30,000 the Saskatchewan assessment would have cost.

'The next thing I knew, Mr. Mills was sentenced to time served and ordered to get out of Dodge,' Drolet said.

As well as giving Mills time served of 58 days, Yukon Supreme Court Justice Ron Veale amended the man's original probation order to allow him until May 4 to be out of the Yukon.

'But this time, they're not going to act on something so slow as a bus,' Drolet said Friday afternoon. 'He's going to get out of Dodge on a plane.

'But as long as we can get him on the plane, he will be gone,' said Drolet.

The adult probation office made arrangements to buy Mills, who has family in B.C., an airplane ticket to Vancouver.

The man actually made it onto the plane Saturday, but demanded to be let off before the aircraft was able to get airborne, the Star learned today.

'Quite frankly, I have some concern with the appropriateness of that, unloading an undesirable by simply telling him to get out of town,' Drolet said Friday. 'But he does have family and other supports out of the jurisdiction.'

The territory was able to get its money back for the Air Canada ticket, a Justice department official said this morning.

Police arrested Mills later Saturday for a disturbance, and he made his first appearance in court Sunday morning.

Mills was to be back in court earlier this afternoon on a charge of breaching his probation order by failing to keep the peace.

He'd pleaded guilty Friday to damaging the window and door of the Teslin health centre and resisting arrest. Charges of assaulting a police officer, breaking into a house, attempted theft of a car, causing a disturbance by swearing and loitering on private property at night were stayed.

Sporting sandals and not wearing winter clothing, Mills had been kicked off the bus headed Outside because he'd been drinking, explained Drolet.

Mills then wandered around Teslin, looking for a warm place to stay. He dropped by the home of an acquaintance, who wasn't home. Mills went into the house, but was kicked out when the homeowner's son arrived some time later.

Mills then wandered around town some more, and 'made a general nuisance of himself' by swearing at some women in the healing centre and by trying doors on cars, presumably looking for a place to keep warm.

Finally, he threw a foot-long log through the health centre's window, which caused such a commotion that he fled from the nurse down the street to the police station.

'Mr. Mills was clearly emotionally distressed, as you can imagine,' said Drolet. 'It was cold, it was easy to follow his movements because there was snow on the ground that's how they tracked him back to each thing and he's wearing sandals.'

Mills was finally arrested after initially resisting and being 'chased in circles around the police cruiser a few times.

'These are very sad circumstances,' said Drolet, who added the Crown concedes Mills appears to be mentally ill and was clearly upset at the time.

The man also found himself in a jam, being poorly dressed for the cold and being broke.

'The fact people were kicking him out and not responding to his need for help obviously frustrated him,' said the prosecutor.