An Old Crow man was sentenced last week for what a Crown prosecutor called a “prolonged” sexual assault.

Alvie Josie, 52, pleaded guilty last Tuesday to assaulting his common-law spouse last September and sexually assaulting another woman in the community in December 2014.

With credit given for the six months he’s spent in custody since his arrest, he will serve an additional 24 months in jail.

Prosecutor John Phelps said in the second case, Josie entered the woman’s home through an unlocked door.

She was sleeping on the couch, and he pushed her onto the floor and sexually assaulted her, first penetrating her vaginally, then attempting anal rape, then continuing with vaginal penetration until he ejaculated.

Josie was intoxicated at the time. When the RCMP arrested him, he confessed.

Phelps said the victim is afraid of Josie and is scared to be alone in her home. He noted Josie’s criminal record of two prior sexual assault convictions in 1990 and 1994.

Josie, a father of four, told the court he had sat in jail every day thinking about his wrongdoings. He said he wants to change and be a different person.

“I always wanted to take my life because of the way I was raised,” he said, crying. “I didn’t want to be this way. My mother did her best.”

Josie said he was sexually abused when he was eight years old, and grew up with frequent violence in the family home in Old Crow.

His brothers would abuse his mother, biting her and knocking her out.

“I’m still hurt by it,” he said.

Josie witnessed two friends commit suicide when he was growing up, and his mother drowned when she fell through the ice while fishing. He attended the Yukon Hall residential school in Whitehorse at age 16.

Josie said he knows it’s not right to hurt others, but people have told him that when he drinks, he’s not safe to be around.

Judge Michael Cozens told the man at some point, he must stop looking back on the bad things he’s done and move forward. He can’t change the past, Cozens said.

“You’ve had a lot of trauma. You’ve had a lot of difficult things to deal with in your life. But you can’t change that,” the judge said.

He told Josie to look ahead, to who he wants to be.

“Your life can be defined by what you do from this day forward,” Cozens said. “You have the power over that.”

He said he knew it would be difficult for Josie to overcome his alcohol addiction, but that he had to try, and make the decision every day not to drink.

Defence lawyer Lauren Whyte said her client is remorseful for what he did, and is eager to get treatment for his alcohol addiction.

The introduction of alcohol to Old Crow had a “devastating effect” on the community, Cozens said. It’s led to violence, abuse and trauma.

“(The victim) is afraid, and understandably so,” he said. “This happened in her own house.”

Whyte and Phelps gave a joint submission on sentencing: 30 months, minus six months time served, plus a 90-day concurrent sentence for the assault against his spouse. A two-year probation period should follow that, they said.

Cozens agreed.

His jail sentence will be two years less a day, so he’ll serve his time at the Whitehorse Correctional Centre. Any sentences over two years are served in federal prison.

While Josie is on probation, he is not allowed to drink alcohol and must have no contact with the victim of the sexual assault.

His spouse did not seek a no-contact order, but Cozens said if Josie is drinking, he’s not to see her.

He also must participate in programming for alcohol abuse, spousal violence and psychological issues, Cozens said.

“Go forward in a way that you can really be a part of (your children’s) lives in the future,” he said. “I wish you the best.”