Yellowknife man says axing neighbour's door was part of ongoing dispute

A Yellowknife man has been sentenced to three months in jail and a year's probation for chopping a hole in one of his neighbour's doors and threatening to kill him.

Lance Kristensen was facing four charges as a result of the March 24 incident, which ended after a seven-hour standoff in which part of 51A Avenue in Yellowknife was blocked off to the public and an emergency response team was called in from Whitehorse.

Appearing in court on Wednesday via video link with the North Slave Correctional Centre, Kristensen said he was asleep during most of the standoff, having passed out after drinking a bottle of whiskey.

He said he passed out at about 6 p.m.and awoke at about midnight to flash bangs set off by an RCMPemergency response team flown in from Whitehorse. The RCMP has not saidwhy a team from Yukon was used.

The 30-year-old pleaded guilty to uttering threats. Three other charges he was facing were withdrawn by the prosecutor. He was also fined $250 for violating a no-drinking order that was a condition of his release.

The main piece of evidence presented at the sentencing was a video of Kristensen swinging a large axe at the door of a second floor unit of Sunridge Place Apartments. The video was one of two shot by neighbours. Between swings, Kristensen repeatedly yelled, "If you ever put your hands on my mother again, I will f--king kill you!"

Defence lawyer Jay Bran said Kristensen "let his emotions and his protective nature get the best of him ... he was simply there to deliver a message. Unfortunately, it was delivered in a way that is criminal."

Dispute with neighbour

During his sentencing hearing, Kristensen said his actions were part of an ongoing dispute with the neighbour. He said the neighbour had beaten him up and his vehicle windshield had been smashed.

He said two or three weeks prior to the incident the neighbour had come charging at him with fists raised. Kristensen said an RCMP officer happened to be just down the hall on another matter and the neighbour stopped.

"I said check him, he's a crack dealer," Kristensen said he told the officer. He said after that the neighbour started spreading word that Kristensen was a rat.

WARNING: Video contains graphic language

A man takes an axe to an apartment door in Yellowknife.

4 years ago

Duration 0:15

A man takes an axe to an apartment door in Yellowknife . The incident resulted in a seven-hour standoff, blocking off part of 51A Avenue in Yellowknife to the public.

He said before going up for a shift at the diamond mine, he had seen another known drug dealer in the building with a woman using what appeared to be a skeleton key to get into an apartment.

"I knew he was going to try to break into my apartment," said Kristensen.

Kristensen said that fear proved well-founded when his mother stopped by to check on his place the morning of the day he returned from the mine.He said she told him the neighbourand others were in his apartment smoking crack. When she told them to leave they forced her out.

When Kristensengot to Yellowknife later that day, he went to the RCMP and asked them to accompany him to the apartment but, he said, by then no one was there. Kristensen said his bed had been urinated on. He said he also found an electric muscle stimulation device they had left behind, which he believes the neighbour and others were planning to use to cause him pain.

Neighbour charged with assault, drug trafficking

The neighbour is charged with assaulting Kristensen's mother four days prior to the standoff. The neighbour is also facing drug trafficking charges laid against him April 2.

With credit for the time he's already served, Kristensen only has nine days left on his sentence. In addition to the jail time, he will be on probation for a year and was ordered to pay for damage to the door.

Kristensen disputed the $1,048.81 Northview Properties said it had to pay to replace the neighbour's door. He said the company may be charging him for two doors, because he had stab marks in his door. Kristensen also pointed out that the neighbour's door had already been damaged by slashes from a machete.

Citing the likelihood that at least part of the damage may be covered by insurance, Judge Christine Gagnon reduced the restitution to $500.