A Westmark Whitehorse Hotel employee who was mugged walking home from work faced one of his assailants in territorial court last Friday.

The 17-year-old hotel employee was approached at the corner of Fifth Avenue and Lambert Street by two teen males who tried to force the youth to a bank machine and withdraw money for them on Oct. 10, 2004.

The cooking apprentice, who resisted accompanying his unarmed muggers to an automatic teller machine, instead had his backpack riffled through and the $15 in his wallet taken after he was punched in the face.

John Kremer, from the Children's Receiving Home on Fifth Avenue, heard the commotion going on outside his building and went to investigate with a co-worker.

Kremer spoke to the youth and was informed by the hotel worker of the robbery.

The two attackers denied the story, saying the 17-year-old had assaulted them. However, Kremer knew something wasn't quite right because the hotel employee was teary-eyed and looked roughed-up.

Eventually, one of the robbers caved in and confessed, returning the money to the hotel worker.

Kremer said one of the youth smelled strongly of alcohol and the other two had bloodshot eyes.

The two youth workers offered to walk the 17-year-old home, but the hotel employee refused, saying he lived nearby.

The workers stayed outside, however, to make sure the two attackers didn't follow the youth home.

The 17-year-old told his parents of the robbery upon arriving at his house and the family decided to press charges.

The muggers had first approached the youth asking for a cigarette, but the hotel worker, who didn't know his attackers, said he didn't smoke.

They then asked him for a loonie so they could buy a cigarette, but the 17-year-old replied that he never carried cash but only used a debit card.

One of the attackers informed him he was being mugged and that he was to go with them to the ATM and withdraw money for them.

The youth refused and tried to walk past them, but the pair kept blocking his way.

Then, one of the attackers punched him in the face.

The hotel employee flashed them his wallet in an effort to show them he had nothing to steal, but he forgot there was $15 in it, which the robbers took.

Somehow the duo also managed to get a hold of his backpack that was strapped to both shoulders.

'I don't really know what happened,' the hotel employee told the court. 'It happened so fast.'

A tug-of-war ensued and eventually the backpack was won back, but only after the robbers took a thorough look at it.

The 17-year-old tried shoving one of the robbers away, but the other attacker threatened to hit him again.

'I didn't know if they had any weapons on them. I didn't know if they were serious. I didn't know if they could do any more harm to me,' said the youth.

One of the robbers, a 15-year-old with FAS who has spent most of his life in group homes, was sentenced to a six-month probation period where he must adhere to a 10 p.m.-to-7 a.m. curfew.

'Robbery is a very serious offence,' Judge Heino Lilles told the youth. 'As an adult, you would expect to spend some time in jail, even if it is a first offence.'

While the 15-year-old had never committed a robbery until last October, his care workers noted he has committed a number of violent property offences in the home where he stays something that has gone unreported to the RCMP.

His care workers say they're now at the point where they might begin reporting his behaviour to the police.

But Lilles told them that even if the youth has been vandalizing his group home, the court is no place to discipline a youth with FAS.

He noted that the 15-year-old's behaviour is quite normal, given the fact there are no structured programs in the Yukon to help him deal with this problem.

'(People with FAS) tend to be very impulsive. They make decisions without planning or thinking,' said Lilles.

The FAS-afflicted youth testified he was the leader in the robbery and that his co-accused was just a bystander during the assault.

However, since the 15-year-old had been drunk when he attacked the hotel employee, there are parts of the incident he blacked out.

Also, in his original statement to police, he testified his friend was more involved in the robbery and had since changed part of his story when testifying in court.

But the hotel employee testified the pair were equal participants in the attack. In his police statement, however, he said the 15-year-old had been more involved than the second youth.

In court, he implied the second youth was the more involved one.

Crown prosecutor David McWhinnie said regardless of the changes to the story, the second youth, if not an attacker, is an accomplice to the crime.

He did nothing to stop the attack. In fact, McWhinnie said, the second youth could appear to be the muscle as he is bigger than both the 15-year-old and the 17-year-old. His presence was enough to scare the hotel employee, said McWhinnie.

The second youth, who has pleaded not guilty, also lied about the attack to the youth workers who ended the robbery, McWhinnie noted.

This afternoon, Judge Karen Ruddy was scheduled to decide on that youth's involvement.