Justice Donald Luther sentenced Skyler Menicoche to 23 months in jail this morning for sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl in 2013.

The judge followed the submissions of Crown prosecutor Sue Bogle, who asked for 21 to 23 months in jail.

The defence had sought 12 to 14 months.

“The mitigating factors take a backseat to the aggravating factors,” Luther said.

The age of the victim and the fact the assault was perpetrated on a sleeping woman called for denunciation and deterrence as the primary goals for sentencing, the judge said.

While the victim and Menicoche never discussed her age, the judge noted Menicoche was “reckless in determining her age.”

Menicoche was 27 at the time.

The victim and Menicoche had met through mutual friends in 2013 and started messaging through Facebook.

On Oct. 5, 2013, he invited her to a party.

She showed up with friends, but Menicoche’s mother quickly told them to leave.

Menicoche messaged her later that night, and she returned to his place at around 3 or 4 a.m.

Menicoche and the victim drank alcohol while watching TV, alongside Menicoche’s mother and brother.

Eventually, the girl went to bed.

Menicoche laid down beside her and made advances to her. She refused the advances, and he stopped.

She fell asleep and woke up to Menicoche raping her.

Any identifying detail of the victim, including her mother’s name, are under a publication ban due to the nature of the crime.

Menicoche was “highly involved” in providing alcohol to the teen, before sexually assaulting her, the judge noted as an aggravating factor.

Menicoche perpetrated a “serious invasive sexual assault,” Luther said.

“The victim suffered enormously,” he added.

During the sentencing submissions on Sept. 21, Bogle read a statement the victim had prepared.

“I’ll never forget what happened, which means a lifetime of hurt, and he gets to walk away,” the girl said.

She talked about how she was “emotionally wrecked,” used alcohol to numb her pain to the point of getting sick and had suicidal thoughts.

The victim’s mother explained that day her daughter had been threatened on social media.

The mother accused Menicoche of spreading rumours that her daughter was lying about the assault.

The victim was “nervously awaiting justice,” the judge noted, as the guilty plea was only entered on July 6, 2015, and that there had been “systemic delays” affecting the case.

The judge also noted that since his arrival in the territory in 1988, the frequency of sexual assaults on sleeping or unconscious women has not decreased.

That reinforces the need for denunciation and deterrence, he said.

“I disagree that 12 to 14 months is an adequate sentence to address the serious deliberate nature of the crime that caused prolonged consequences to the victim and her mother,” Luther said.

Menicoche, a member of the Pehdzeh Ki First Nation, was born in Fort Simpson, N.W.T.

The judge noted Menicoche lost his father at age six, and was exposed to his mother drinking at a young age.

He suffered “pronounced emotional abuse” and violence at home, Luther said.

Menicoche is also the father of a young child.

The judge agreed with defence lawyer Gordon Coffin that the prospects for rehabilitation were good.

Taking these factors into consideration enabled Menicoche to have a high territorial sentence. That means he will serve his sentence at the Whitehorse Correctional Centre, instead of a three- to four-year sentence in a federal penitentiary.

Sentences under two years are served at provincial or territorial jails.

“I’ve kept you here in the Yukon,” the judge said, turning to Menicoche.

“Do your very best in jail to follow programming, (and once out) work hard at your job and stay sober.”

The judge also gave Menicoche a 14-day consecutive sentence for a bail breach.

Since Menicoche was taken into custody after the sentencing submissions on Sept. 21, he will serve 23 months and two days.

The offender will be on probation for two years following the completion of his sentence.

The judge directed him to attend counselling for alcohol abuse and sexual treatment.