Kolola gets life sentence for murdering Mountie

Pingoatuk Kolola, centre, is led from the Nunavut Justice Centre Friday after being sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years for killing RCMP Const. Douglas Scott. Kolola was sentenced for the first-degree murder of Scott in Kimmirut in November 2007 on March 11. (PHOTO BY CHRIS WINDEYER)

Pingoatuk Kolola will serve a life sentence, with no chance of parole for 25 years, for the first-degree murder of RCMP Const. Douglas Scott.

Kolola was found guilty yesterday by an 11-person jury of the 2007 killing of Scott in Kimmirut.

Justice Robert Kilpatrick described the murder as a “senseless, tragic” act that will forever haunt Scott’s family, the RCMP, Kolola’s family and the hamlet of Kimmirut.

“The human damage caused by this crime is incalculable,” Kilpatrick said before sentencing Kolola.

“For the rest of his natural life, Mr. Kolola will not know true freedom” and will spend at least 25 years “surrounded by cold concrete and steel bars,” Kilpatrick said.

The sentence must send a message that attacks on peace officers who are on duty “is an attack on society itself,” said Crown lawyer Susanne Boucher.

RCMP officers in remote Northern communities are especially at risk, she said.

“By virtue of their isolation they are often in very vulnerable positions,” Boucher added.

Defence lawyer Andy Mahar said Kolola showed no self-pity and displayed “little interest in defending himself.”

“Ping doesn’t see the sentence he’s about to receive as any injustice,” Mahar said. “He will be forever sorry for what he did.”

Kolola declined to make a statement to the court. Victim impact statements filed with court will remain closed to the public at the request of Scott’s family, to whom Kilpatrick expressed the court’s condolences.

“Their grief is a true life sentence from which there can be no escape, no parole,” Kilpatrick said.

He said Scott, who was 20 when he was killed, responding to what began as a routine drunk driving complaint, made the “ultimate sacrifice.”

Kilpatrick also said Kolola’s six children will now grow up without a father.

“They too are victims of this crime,” he said.

Kilpatrick also said the community of Kimmirut must also try to heal and suggested the hamlet construct a memorial in Scott’s honour.

The judge also ordered a transcript of the sentencing hearing be delivered to the hamlet’s mayor and council.