Crown stays manslaughter charge against Pond Inlet woman

A Pond Inlet woman facing a manslaughter charge in connection with the sudden death of her common-law spouse last year is now free of any obligations to the court, following a stay of proceedings entered Jan. 18 by Crown lawyers.

Susie Pewatoaluk of Pond Inlet, then 42, was charged with manslaughter after an RCMP investigation into the sudden death of 46-year-old Imosie “Amos” Ootoova of Pond Inlet.

Ootoova died at the Pond Inlet health centre on Jan. 17, 2009 around 12:30 a.m., the RCMP said in a news release issued at the time.

About 45 minutes before that, somebody had called the local RCMP detachment to report “an assault with a weapon,” at the couple’s residence, last year’s press release said.

At a show cause hearing in Iqaluit held Jan. 20, 2009, a justice of the peace released Pewatoaluk from custody, subject to a long list of conditions. She then flew back to Pond Inlet to wait for the charge to be dealt with in court.

At the hearing, lawyers presented detailed evidence describing what happened at Pewatoaluk’s residence on the evening Ootoova died.

But because of a court order, that evidence may not be published or broadcast.

A stay of proceedings means the prosecution of Pewatoaluk’s charge remains in legal limbo for one year, but may be revived if more evidence comes to light. If the charge isn’t prosecuted within that time, then it disappears from the system.

Effectively, a stay of proceedings is often equivalent to the dismissal of a charge, especially when there isn’t enough evidence to justify a prosecution.