As territorial court Judge Karen Ruddy sentenced a Whitehorse man to nine years in prison Wednesday afternoon for the kidnapping and rape of a woman last October, she recognized the sentence can do little to mitigate the damage caused to the victim.

It was Ruddy's hope the sentencing for Mitchell Leblanc could provide the woman with some closure, she said after commending the woman for speaking in court at the sentencing hearing earlier this month.

Leblanc previously pleaded guilty to two counts of sexual assault, kidnapping and possession of a weapon for a dangerous purpose.

As the court session ended, the woman rushed out of the room in tears.

During the sentencing, Ruddy reviewed the history around the case.

Before Oct. 31, 2006, she said, the woman had a promising life ahead of her, having just purchased her first home and having a job in her chosen field.

Last Halloween night, though, as she was sitting at home, Leblanc knocked on her door, coming over to her house with the intention of forcing her to kill him, the court heard.

For the first part of the evening, the two sat in the living room watching TV together.

It wasn't until she said it was time for him to leave that he tied her up.

He took her to the bedroom where he cut her clothes off and raped her.

Over the course of almost three days, he had her hands and feet tied and he took her in a vehicle to a B.C. hot springs, Ruddy said.

While there, he told her that if she wanted to go home, she would have to slit his wrists.

She was also raped again and told numerous times to kill him, but she couldn't cut him deep enough, court heard.

There were also times throughout the ordeal when Leblanc would loosen her bindings and tell her he loved her, the court heard.

The woman was finally able to escape at Jake's Corner 90 kilometres south of Whitehorse, where she could use her cell phone to call the RCMP.

As they were headed back to Whitehorse, Leblanc stopped the vehicle there, telling her again to slit his wrists, and that he had a gun with him.

She cut his wrists to the point where he fainted and she could escape.

The RCMP, meanwhile, had sent out their plane to the rescue.

Both the woman and her mother submitted victim impact statements to the court, the woman speaking of nightmares and of being unable to return to her 'beloved new home'.

Her mother told the court of the pain suffered when their daughter went missing and in dealing with knowing what her daughter went through afterward.

The court also reviewed Leblanc's circumstances with Ruddy, noting he was raised in dysfunctional circumstances. In the most recent years, his primary form of work has been selling marijuana.

He also suffers from addiction problems with alcohol and marijuana.

About 12 years ago, the 38-year-old suffered head trauma from a motorcycle accident that left him in a coma for some time.

He's now a very different person from who he was before that accident, Ruddy said.

An assessment showed he was not suffering from any mental disorder when he kidnapped the woman other than depression, the judge noted.

He also has no prior record, though it's known he was trafficking marijuana, the judge pointed out.

There is nothing showing a history of violence though, Ruddy said.

Those closest to Leblanc described it as very out of character for him, she said.

In addition to previous court cases Outside, she looked at various cases in the Yukon to reach the nine-year sentence.

Crown prosecutors had proposed a sentence in the eight- to 10-year range.

Among the aggravating factors, she considered the facts that Leblanc had told the woman she would have to take another person's life which he had thought would be empowering to her, as well as the kidnapping.

She also pointed out that Leblanc wasn't young, as offenders involved in the previous Yukon cases considered were.

'Leblanc can't be described as young,' she said, noting that while rehabilitation must be considered, denunciation and defence must take precedence over that.

Among the mitigating circumstances in the case, Ruddy looked to Leblanc's guilty pleas which meant the victim did not have to testify at trial, his indication of remorse, desire for treatment and his low to moderate risk of re-offending.

After setting down the term of nine years less 16 months' remand custody time at a two-to-one credit, she also said she would recommend Leblanc serve his sentence at a facility on the Lower Mainland or Vancouver, where he would be closer to his family and that he receive sex offender treatment.

With the credit of 16 months in custody, Leblanc has seven years left on his sentence.

Leblanc must also submit his DNA and be placed on the national sex offender registry.

He's also under a firearms prohibition for 10 years.