Store worker guilty of feeding booze to minor

In a written judgment issued last week, an Iqaluit judge found that after a 15-year-old girl showed up, unexpectedly, to Sulayman Suno’s drinking party last fall, he illegally served her with alcohol. (FILE PHOTO)

An Iqaluit convenience store worker who represented himself in court is guilty of supplying liquor to an underage girl, Justice Robert Kilpatrick found last week.

Police charged Sulayman Suno of Iqaluit with supplying liquor to a minor — a territorial liquor act offence — some time after Oct. 27, 2008, when they picked up a highly intoxicated 15-year-old girl who said she had been drinking at Suno’s home.

Suno pleaded not guilty and tried to act as his own lawyer at a trial held this past Aug. 17 in Iqaluit.

At the trial, Suno said that on the evening of Oct. 26 last year, he and another man, known as R.B., were drinking beer at a local bar until R.B. was cut off. After that, they went to Suno’s place to continue drinking.

R.B., who appeared as a witness for Suno, said Suno phoned an adult woman known as M.L . so “she would come over and have some fun with us.”

But M.L. also brought her underaged teenage niece to the party — a 15-year-old girl known in court documents as J.L.

J.L., who gave evidence for the Crown, said Suno poured cups of mixed alcoholic drinks for her and her aunt. Since neither of them liked the way Suno mixed their drinks, they mixed their own drinks after that, the teenager said.

J.L . then remembers calling a taxi about two hours after arriving at Suno’s home, but didn’t get into it. Police found her in a grossly intoxicated state and she woke up the next day in the drunk tank.

R.B., on the other hand, said in court that it was he who offered drinks to the two females and that they didn’t want them. And he said the 15-year-old had no alcohol to drink while at Suno’s house.

But Kilpatrick rejected R.B.’s evidence, saying the teenager’s story made far more sense, being “rich in contextual details” that included “accurate references to things said and conversations had with the other participants in the party.”

After that he found Suno guilty of the charge.

At the time of the party, Suno, R.B. and J.L. all worked together at a local convenience store, and Suno was the 15-year-old girl’s supervisor.

Suno has yet to be sentenced.