A Winnipeg man who held his 25-year-old pregnant girlfriend and her two young children hostage during a 11-hour standoff with police was sentenced Friday to five years in prison.

Kingsley Albert Bruce, 33, previously pleaded guilty to two counts of forcible confinement, uttering threats and assault causing bodily harm.

"There are not enough words I can use to describe how truly awful this offence is," said Crown attorney Jennifer Mann.

Police were called to the family's Fort Richmond home on Oct. 25, 2008, after neighbours heard the woman screaming for help and called 911.

Court heard Bruce had been drinking for several hours when, sometime before 6 a.m., he and his girlfriend started arguing and she allegedly hit him in the head with a telephone. Enraged, Bruce punched the woman several times in the face and kicked her repeatedly in the stomach. She was nine months pregnant.

"With every kick Kingsley issued to me, I reminded him I was pregnant with his son," the woman wrote in a victim impact statement read out in court. "It was like he didn't care and he continued to do whatever he was going to do."

When police made a move to break down the front door, Bruce yelled out that he had a gun, Mann said.

"See what happens if you try and come inside," Bruce told police.

The woman later escaped the house and Bruce released her 5-year-old daughter. Police finally stormed the house shortly before 5 p.m. and found Bruce passed out inside and the woman's one-year-old son unharmed. No gun was found.

The woman said she had no idea how violent Bruce could be and that they had discussed getting married next year.

"That rage he had in his eyes will always be etched in my mind," she wrote in her victim impact statement. "One of the last things I remember him saying to me was 'Come back here bitch, I'm not done with you.' "

GANG TIES

Bruce has gang ties, a lengthy criminal record and three prior convictions for domestic violence involving three different women.

"You need help Mr. Bruce," Judge Rob Finlayson said. "Hopefully you can get that help while you are in Stony Mountain."

Bruce, who barely took his eyes off the woman for the duration of the sentencing hearing, offered her a brief apology.

"I know you need some closure and I'm here to give you that," he said. "This shouldn't have happened ... I hate myself for that. I'm sorry."

dean.pritchard.sunmedia.ca