A father with a “short fuse” who attempted to discourage witnesses from testifying at his trial was sentenced Thursday to one year and 90 days in jail.

Raymond Blake, 39, appeared in territorial court Thursday morning and pleaded guilty to obstructing justice, assault and uttering threats. The charges were related to two incidents that took place three months apart.

On the early afternoon of Oct. 31, 2013, Blake was in the alleyway behind the Salvation Army on Black Street, said Crown prosecutor Christiana Lavidas.

He was with a couple of other men sharing a bottle of vodka.

He bought an orange and black knife from one of the men and placed it in the waistband of his pants.

Some other people joined the group and a fight quickly began.

Blake shoved one man several times and told him he’d “get him.”

One of the women in the group, who knew Blake had a knife on him, called police.

He was arrested and charged with assault and uttering threats.

Blake’s trial, scheduled for Jan. 10, 2014, was adjourned and rescheduled for two weeks later.

On Jan. 24, Lavidas said, she received a call from victim services staff regarding two witnesses of the October incident. A man approached them both at the Salvation Army and told them not to show up to testify at Blake’s trial.

An RCMP officer went to the Whitehorse Correctional Centre, where Blake was in custody, and listened to recordings of Blake’s phone calls.

Several times, he had called someone and asked for help getting the witnesses’ addresses.

“Get someone to keep f***ing talking to them ... I can get someone to stop by,” Blake said in one of the calls.

“I hope those guys don’t show up,” he said in another call. “I hope somebody talks to those guys.”

This led to the obstruction of justice charge.

“There were repeated calls, repeated attempts,” Lavidas said about the phone calls Blake made from jail.

She said they weren’t direct threats of violence against the witnesses, but Block interjected: “But there were requests for addresses, which is chilling.”

Blake’s lawyer, Lynn MacDiarmid, shared details of her client’s life.

A member of the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation, Blake was born and raised in Old Crow.

His was a traumatic childhood. His parents were alcoholics – his father a residential school survivor and his mother grew up in the bush near Old Crow.

By age nine, Blake can remember fighting adults off with sticks. He witnessed deaths, suicides and violent assaults.

He was kicked out of school in Whitehorse for fighting, and moved to the Yukon Hall residential school, where he was sexually abused.

He later completed Grade 10 at F.H. Collins Secondary School and has upgraded to Grade 11 at the Whitehorse Correctional Centre.

Blake has a lengthy criminal record, including breaches and violent offences, with time spent in a federal penitentiary for robbery.

As a result, he hasn’t held down a job since 2011.

But MacDiarmid said he’s trying to improve his situation.

Through a program at the jail, Blake has been approached by the Yukon Mine Training Association about future employment.

He’s also applied to a residential treatment program in Nanaimo, B.C.

Blake has participated in violence prevention programs at the jail and is meeting regularly with a residential school survivor counsellor and a pastor who knew his family.

“He says he is now talking about issues he’s never talked about before,” MacDiarmid said.

Blake has also been dating a woman for two years who doesn’t drink and has been supportive of him.

He has two daughters, aged eight and five, from a previous relationship, but hasn’t been involved with their lives much until this point. He would like to be, she said.

MacDiarmid suggested giving Blake enhanced credit, 1.5 days for each day served in custody, from last Oct. 31 until now.

But Block said he thought it would be inappropriate to give enhanced credit for the time after Blake made the witness-chilling phone calls.

“Though Mr. Blake has a record of breaches, he’s never done anything like this before,” Block said. “This is the nuclear war of process-related charges.”

He sentenced Blake to one year for that charge, 90 days for the assault and 90 days, to be served concurrently, for uttering threats.

The two latter sentences reflect Blake’s difficult background, the judge said.

He gave the man 1.5 days for each day served up until Blake’s second trial date. For the time passed since then, Blake will receive one day credit for each day served.

All told, he’ll serve 145 days. Block also assigned one year of probation and a no-contact order with the two witnesses.

When handing down the sentence, Block emphasized the seriousness of what Blake had done.

“That kind of criminal record tells me you’re an experienced player in the system. You wanted to know the people’s addresses and that had to be for a reason.

“It has to be a sentence that teaches you to never cross this line again but also teaches other people to never cross that line,” Block said of intimidating witnesses.

But he ended his explanation for the sentencing by painting a picture of the hopeful future Blake could have.

After reading a letter Blake provided to the judge, Block said he was impressed by the man’s eloquence and intelligence.

“You aren’t as weak a picture as that criminal record would suggest,” Block said.

“Thirty-nine, by my standards, is young and enough of an opportunity to turn your life around .... When you come out of jail, you can still be a father to those children.

“Good luck to you, Sir.”