After tearful apology, Nunavut man gets six years for manslaughter

A view of Kimmirut, in an undated file photo. Pauloosie Padluq of Kimmirut, accused in a homicide dating to Sept. 2, 2014, entered a guilty plea to manslaughter Aug. 27, 2015. This past Sept. 13, at a hearing in Kimmirut, Justice Bonnie Tulloch of the Nunavut Court of Justice sentenced him to six years in prison, of which he has three left to serve. (FILE PHOTO)

Following a grief-ridden court appearance Sept. 13 in his home community of Kimmirut, Pauloosie Padluq, 37, learned he must serve three more years in jail for using a kitchen knife in September 2014 to kill 20-year-old Qummuattuq Simeonie.

Those three years will complete the six-year sentence that Justice Bonnie Tulloch imposed on him, minus time served, for the manslaughter count that Padluq pleaded guilty to on Aug. 27, 2015.

Padluq, who wore a grey dress shirt, purple tie and dark pants, wept throughout the proceeding and read a letter of apology to the family and friends of the young man he killed and to the community of Kimmirut, defence lawyer James Morton said in an email to Nunatsiaq News.

“I am deeply sorry for the pain and anguish that I’ve caused. It’s sad to say alcohol was a factor in this incident that took place. I would have never of thought that I could or would hurt anyone,” Padluq said in his apology.

Padluq killed Simeonie in the early hours of Sept. 2, 2014, after fighting with him at a party in Donny Pitseolak’s house that featured “a substantial amount of alcohol and marijuana,” Tulloch said in her sentencing judgment.

The fight started at around 1 a.m. that morning after Simeonie accused Padluq of sexually touching his daughter. Simeonie had also been involved with a woman Padluq had once sexually assaulted, which “added fuel to the fire,” Tulloch said.

After Ben Akavak, one of the party-goers, intervened, the fight stopped. But at 3:30 a.m., the two men started fighting again in the kitchen.

After taking a kitchen knife from a drawer, Padluq stabbed Simeonie once in the chest, inflicting a 10.5-centimetre wound that penetrated the younger man’s heart.

Though Pitseolak urged him to go to the health centre, Simeonie left through the front door and ran after Padluq, catching up with him by a lane-way near the school.

A witness saw Padluq push Simeonie to the ground and then make more stabbing motions before dropping the knife and walking away.

Police found Simeonie’s body at around 7 a.m. after he had died of his chest wound.

Around the same time, Padluq went to the health centre, claiming Simeonie had beaten him up, and received treatment for superficial wounds to his face, right arm and left hand.

After following trails of blood from the party house to Simeonie’s body and back to Padluq’s house, police arrested Padluq and charged him with second degree murder.

On Aug. 27, 2015, he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter and on April 29, 2016, Tulloch heard sentencing submissions from lawyers after they filed an agreed statement of facts.

At that April 29 hearing, Morton said Padluq took many steps towards rehabilitation during his time at Iqaluit’s minimum security Makigiarvik facility awaiting trial, completing courses in substance abuse, alternatives to violence and carving.

For that reason, Morton said Padluq should receive a total sentence that would leave him with two or less years left to serve, which would make it possible for him to complete his sentence at Makigiarvik or another territorial prison.

Morton also said Padluq grew up in a poor, deprived family and was sexually abused at home and, thanks to the convicted pedophile teacher Ed Horne, sexually abused at school.

But Crown prosecutor Martin Tooke said Padluq should spend three to four more years in a federal penitentiary.

That’s because of Padluq’s criminal record: two convictions for sexual assault in 2008 and 2011 and two convictions for sexual interference, in 2011. He committed those crimes against four different women in Kimmirut.

Also, in 2009, Padluq was convicted of carrying a prohibited weapon.

Tulloch said in her judgment that she leans towards the Crown’s position on sentencing and imposed a global sentencing of six years, with three years credit for time already served, leaving him with three more years to serve

“I agree with the Crown that the case at hand attracts a higher level of criminal intent making it a case that comes closer to near murder than near accident,” she said.

She also imposed a $200 victim’s impact surcharge and a mandatory lifetime firearms ban and she ordered Padluq to submit his DNA to the national data bank.

“I am encouraged, Mr. Padluq, by the progress you have made while incarcerated. I hope you can continue to take programs which will assist you once you are released back into your home community,” she said.

About 30 Kimmirut residents, many of whom also wept throughout the proceeding, heard Tulloch pronounce her sentence.

Those who broke down sobbing included the victim’s mother, Kuluaqyuk Simeonie, and Mary Korgak, his common-law spouse, who held the dead man’s infant son.

Kuluaqyuk Simeonie talked for about 10 minutes, telling the court about how much she misses her son, Morton told Nunatsiaq News.

But Morton said Korgak was unable to say more than a few words and wept before sitting down.

“This morning we heard from Qummuattuq’s mother and his partner. It was very emotional and I applaud their courage in coming forward,” Tulloch said in her judgment.

2016 NUCJ 22 R v. Padluq by NunatsiaqNews on Scribd