A young man who sexually assaulted a six-year-old girl will spend two years in a federal penitentiary.

The accused, David John Malcolm, began to cry Monday after hearing his sentence delivered by territorial court judge Karen Ruddy.

Before the Kwanlin Dun First Nation man left the courtroom, he hugged members of his community.

Several of them told the childlike Malcolm it would be OK.

His elderly and fragile-looking stepfather, Art Jackson, who has been at every one of Malcolm's court appearances, promised Malcolm he would visit him.

Malcolm's mother died in 1994 after being hit by a drunk driver.

While Malcolm is 24 years old, his lawyer, Gord Coffin, said the tattooed Malcolm has the mental capacity closer to his six-year-old victim.

Last September, an intoxicated Malcolm lured a young girl into his home by taking her dog and bicycle away from her. She accompanied him to get her property back.

Once inside, Malcolm pushed her to the floor and ordered her to take off her clothes, Crown prosecutor Sue Bogle told the judge last week during her submissions on sentencing.

The child obeyed only because Malcolm threatened her with a knife and lighter. Malcolm told her if she didn't do what he said, he would burn the house down.

Once the girl was naked, Malcolm hugged her and kissed her on the lips while touching her vagina.

In the meantime, the child's mother went to look for her daughter after she began to wonder why the girl hadn't come home yet. Upon searching the Marwell neighbourhood, she noticed her daughter's bike parked outside a house.

Knowing something wasn't right, she screamed her daughter's name. The court was told the little girl heard her mother through the thin walls of the house and shouted back: 'I'm in here, Mommy! Help me!'

The mother pounded on the door, not knowing who else was inside, and shouted: 'Open the door, you son of a bitch!'

Malcolm did not comply, but eventually the mother was able to break open the door, pinning the accused behind it.

Inside, the mother saw her daughter naked on a bed, the judge was told. The little girl grabbed her underwear off the floor and ran toward her mother. Once out of the house, the woman called 911. The little girl suffered several scratches to her back, chest, arm and lip.

In a victim impact statement, the young girl expressed anger at the fact that her dog had been taken. She also said she was very scared during the incident and was happy her mother saved her.

Her mother expressed anger, saying that the incident has put a great stress on her family, so much so that she has had trouble working.

The mother was in court Monday with her spiritual counsellor, who prayed with her during some of the proceedings.

In their whispered prayers, they asked God to help Malcolm gain some understanding of the wrongs he's committted, which is not something likely to happen.

'His brain does not function as a normal brain does,' Judge Ruddy said during her sentencing comments. 'He does not have the ability to empathize with the victim's family.'

During submissions on sentencing, Bogle noted that Malcolm expressed no remorse mainly because he couldn't, and added that he was more worried about what would happen to him.

Ruddy decided to give Malcolm, who has an IQ of 74, the pen time because of the victim's young age.

A psychologist described Malcolm as a regressed pedophile.

Given the fact that he likely has Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), Ruddy noted that going to a pen would be beneficial, as he could get the programming he needs.

The Yukon does not have the resources to properly diagnose FASD, which is why a psychologist could not say for certain if Malcolm has the disorder. However, the psychologist could say with certainty that Malcolm had suffered some kind of prenatal brain damage.

Going to the penitentiary would give Malcolm access to the Northstar program, which is designed for intellectually-disabled sex offenders who have impulsive sexually inappropriate behaviour.

Malcolm was successful while he was living in a group home. However, when he turned 19, the government released him into society. It did so even though there was evidence to suggest that Malcolm would commit sexually-deviant offences, Coffin told the court during his submissions last week.

The problem is the Yukon does not have the appropriate facilities for adults with FASD, the lawyer noted.

Such people need 24-supervision to prevent them from acting on their impulses. FASD adults do not have the ability to comprehend from right and wrong, said Teresa Kellerman, an FASD expert out of Arizona, who was in the Yukon late last year.

Because of a lack of constant supervision for Malcolm, he cannot 'operate safely in the community,' noted Ruddy. 'It's clear he requires a more intensive program.'

Coffin had asked that Malcolm stay in the community to be close to his stepfather and other family members.

While he noted that they haven't been able to prevent him from crime, it would be comforting for him to be near his family.

To try to facilitate Coffin's request, Ruddy gave Malcolm a three-year probationary sentence that will likely be served in Whitehorse after he is released from jail.

The idea is that after Malcolm gets some treatment from the Northstar program, the probationary period would help ease him back into society with the support of his family, while being strictly supervised by the justice system.

At that time, he must abide by a curfew, have no contact with people under the age of 18, nor have any contact with the victim and her family.

Malcolm must also take additional sex offender and drug treatment programming.

There was also an order restricting Malcolm's attendance at day cares, schools, parks or public pools for a period of 10 years. He is also not allowed to own any firearms nor other weapons during that time.

After the judge had left the courtroom Monday, Malcolm became hostile toward an RCMP court guard, who tried to prod Malcolm away from his family to get him back into court cells.

'Fk off,' said Malcolm, pushing the officer away from him.

It took a second RCMP court guard and the arresting officer, who happened to be sitting in the gallery, to force Malcolm out of the courtroom.

'He's upset. He doesn't understand what's happening,' a woman tried to explain to Malcolm's stepfather.

'It's all finished. I don't want to talk about it anymore,' said Jackson.

He told the judge earlier this month that he believed Malcolm's problems stemmed from his drug and alcohol addiction something that is a common problem for FASD adults.

Ruddy said Jackson didn't really have a full appreciation of Malcolm's cognitive difficulties.