Copperbelt MLA Haakon Arntzen was sentenced to a 15-month conditional term late Thursday afternoon as a result of his conviction last May of indecent assault.

His conditional sentence will be served in the community rather than in jail. It includes three months of house arrest and three months of curfew restrictions, as well as 240 hours of community service.

During the first three months of his sentence, from September to December, Arntzen will be under house arrest.

This means he must stay inside his home at all times, unless he is performing certain permitted tasks or has written permission from his sentence supervisor.

Some of the reasons that would enable Arntzen to step outside his door include grocery shopping, attending religious services, seeking medical treatment for himself or his immediate family and activities related to employment, Justice Leigh Gower told Yukon Supreme Court Thursday.

Arntzen was also given permission to exercise for an hour a day within one kilometre of his house.

Only one visitor at a time will be permitted to visit Arntzen throughout the first three months.

During the following three months, from December to March, Arntzen will have a curfew which entails being inside his home from 9 p.m. to 6 a.m. During these hours, he not allowed any visitors.

There are a variety of other conditions which Arntzen is required to follow at times throughout the 15-month sentence.

For example, he must abstain from alcohol for six months, answer all telephone calls, as they may be from his bail supervisor, and carry a copy of the court order and written permission to leave his home wherever he goes.

He is also prohibited from having physical contact with people 16 years of age or younger, unless accompanied by another responsible adult.

As well, the court ordered Arntzen to undergo any assessments, treatment or counselling ordered by his sentence supervisor.

This sentence lands between what the Crown and the defence were seeking.

While Crown prosecutor John Phelps said he was not opposed to a conditional sentence, he asked the court for an 18-month jail term.

Edmonton-based defence lawyer Brian Beresh was asking for a nine- to 12-month conditional sentence.

Beresh, who took the case on after Arntzen fired his previous lawyer, Ed Horembala, last June, was not in court for the sentencing. He participated by speaker phone, however.

The sentencing began at around 4:20 p.m. and was attended by close to 20 people.

Gower reviewed the fact that Arntzen had been convicted last May of three counts of indecent assault on two women, who were children at the time.

The assaults spanned several years, from approximately 1974 to 1980.

They included acts like French-kissing and grinding his groin against one of them while lying on top of her or after he had made her sit on his lap, Gower said.

In one instance, he approached one of the women while she was sunbathing and put his hands on her bum.

She went inside to put on more clothing and he pinned her against a wall telling her she was beautiful and he thought about her while he was having sex with another woman, the court heard.

She fled and Arntzen chased her in his car. When he caught up with her, he twisted her arm behind his back, threatening her not to tell anyone, Gower said.

'I lost every shred of self-esteem,' Gower read from one of the victim impact statements.

'I felt like I was a caged animal . . . I was and still am so ashamed. I stopped believing I was lovable,' another passage says.

Recently turned 59, Arntzen had an extensive work history as well as community involvement, both as a politician and as a coach for sports like cross-country skiing, Gower said.

Arntzen had also led a crime-free life in the intervening years and has not been diagnosed with drug or alcohol addictions, according to pre-sentence documents, the judge said.

While the fact that a crime goes undetected for many years is not a mitigating factor, Gower said, the fact that he has become a 'respected member of the community' was taken into account.

However, there were also aggravating factors in Arntzen's case.

The judge listed the fact that the victims were children as a key factor in the case.

Also, during the episode when he chased the one woman in his car, Arntzen showed violent and threatening behaviour, the judge said.

'(Arntzen) has already suffered and will continue to suffer' the social stigma of the convictions in the eye of a public trial and media attention, Gower said, agreeing with earlier statements by Beresh.

Social stigma is a deterrent that will continue on after the sentence, whereas a 'jail sentence is finite,' he said.

The victim impact statements from both women were taken into account while delivering the sentence, Gower said, and he quoted passages from them yesterday afternoon.

'That night was the start. He violated me . . . he marked me to this day,' one woman wrote.

'The abuse was ever present like the air I breathed,' one of the women said in another segment.

Regardless of the sentence given to Arntzen, it was 'unlikely to meet the needs and desires of the victims,' Gower said.

The names of Arntzen's victims, who were not in court Thursday, are prohibited from publication.

After the sentencing, when asked by reporters if he had any comments on the case, Arntzen threw his hands in the air and said, 'Can't.'

He has 30 days to appeal the sentence.

The outgoing MLA has given his letter of resignation to Ted Staffen, the Speaker of the legislature. The next steps in the resignation process were expected shortly.

Arntzen was elected under the Yukon Party banner in the 2002 election. He left that caucus after the charges were laid in the spring of 2004.

Opposition party leaders react... p. 8.