A 46-year-old man charged after a woman fell down a flight of stairs during a confrontation in a Carstairs residence in December has been handed a term of house arrest.The accused pleaded guilty before Judge Les Grieve in Didsbury provincial court on Wednesday to charges of assault and failing to comply with a court order.Prosecutor Kevin Doyle told Judge Grieve that the accused and the complainant got into a struggle when the woman tried to leave the home on Dec. 2, 2011.During the struggle, the accused “took her in his hands and moved her away” from the path to the door and towards the top of the staircase, said Doyle.The woman then fell down eight or nine steps, bruising her arms and causing a small abrasion on her leg, he said.The grabbing of the woman constituted the assault, he said.In a victim impact statement read out in court, the victim said she remains anxious and nervous following the assault.The accused's lawyer, John Boulton, said the accused grabbed the woman in an attempt to prevent her from leaving the house and driving because he believed she was intoxicated.The accused, who had been drinking alcohol on the night in question, was under a previous court order not to drink.“I know that I made a mistake,” the accused told the judge. “I never meant for her to fall. I do apologize.”The judge handed Christopher Glysinskie a six-month conditional sentence, which includes house arrest, with exceptions for medical treatment.
