SASKATOON -- Hanging his head, visibly crying and wiping away tears from his face in the prisoner's box, the man at the centre of a dangerous offender hearing listened to an expert witness explain his violent and traumatic childhood in open court.

Nathan Manuel Stevenson, 40, pleaded guilty to aggravated assault following an incident in Saskatoon on Aug. 30, 2017. Stevenson's victim was a child whose identity is protected under a publication ban. Crown prosecutor Jeff Lubyk is seeking a dangerous offender designation for Stevenson following a rash of violent assaults over an 11-year period.

On Thursday, court heard testimony from the psychiatrist who conducted a risk assessment on Stevenson in March 2019. The witness told the court Stevenson exhibited explosive violence and extreme reactivity, explaining the offender showed signs of borderline personality and substance abuse disorders.

"Any threat to self-esteem, giving rise to fear and anger … those reactive feelings are extreme," said Dr. Shabehram Lohrasbe. "When he gets emotionally aroused, he stays wound up."

Lohrasbe took the court through a list of assaults committed by Stevenson from 2004 to 2015. Over that time Stevenson was convicted of several assaults and one aggravated assault. One of those assaults involved a child whose identity is also protected under a publication ban.

Lohrasbe said getting a sense of Stevenson was difficult because he doesn't see many offenders who have committed crimes on children.

"These acts go way beyond smacking your kid one time," he said.

Lohrasbe testified Stevenson's struggles with the law stem from major trauma Stevenson suffered as a child.

"It has long been known there's a connection between childhood trauma and sexual abuse and a borderline personality," Lohrasbe said, adding Stevenson's assessment raised some red flags pointing to him as an outlier unlike other offenders he has dealt with.

Lohrasbe pointed to the fact that Stevenson's first violent offence didn't come until he was 25-years-old.

"He's already past the peak of violence which is 19 to 20-years-old," Lohrasbe said. "It's rare to get a serious offender starting at the age of 25. This makes him an outlier right off the bat."

Lohrasbe explained that violent offenders often start with small offences at the age of 14 and violence escalates from there.

When asked if Stevenson should be regarded as a high risk, Lohrasbe agreed saying based on the nature of Stevenson's past violent crimes.

"The risk of anyone suffering the same injuries is enough to consider him as a high risk to reoffend," he said.

Finishing up a day of testimony with the Crown, Lohrasbe told the court the first step for Stevenson to turn his life around was to commit him to therapy.

"It's not an easy thing to do, he needs total commitment and so far he has not done this," Lohrasbe said.

On Friday, the defence will have the opportunity to cross-examine Lohrasbe.

The dangerous offender hearing, which started on Feb. 3, is scheduled for two weeks.