Iqaluit man jailed five years for near-killing of Apex man in 2011

Geteonie Kopalie was sentenced to five years in a federal penitentiary April 17 at Nunavut Court of Justice heard in Iqaluit. (FILE PHOTO)

An Iqaluit man was sentenced to five years in a federal penitentiary, with credit for time served on a one-to-one basis after he almost killed an Apex man in 2011, the Nunavut Court of Justice heard in Iqaluit April 17.

Geteonie Kopalie, 25, pleaded guilty to a single count of aggravated assault 18 months after the Apex incident took place, about five days before he was scheduled for trial.

In July 2011, at the Apex home of Edward Norman “things got ugly,” Justice Andrew Mahar said.

People were drinking, and two people removed Kopalie from the home.

After that, he took a cab to Iqaluit, where Kopalie found his brother. The pair rode back to Apex in a another cab.

“He was looking for trouble,” Mahar said, noting that Kopalie had been drinking and was intoxicated.

Kopalie pounded on the door, and Norman answered.

Shortly after that, Norman was lying on the ground and Kopalie “jumped and kicked” on Norman’s head.

“Mr. Norman was completely incapable of defending himself,” Mahar said.

The primary witness to the incident, the taxi driver, stayed on the scene, revving his engine, honking his horn, and drove towards Kopalie in an attempt to make him stop the beating.

He yelled “‘you’ve killed him, why don’t you just stop,’” Mahar said.

It was clear that Kopalie was the aggressor, Mahar said, because he had left Norman’s house, travelled in a cab to Iqaluit, and came back with “troubling” intentions.

“Geteonie Kopalie intended to cause devastating injury to the victim,” Mahar said.

The taxi driver called the RCMP, who showed up and arrested Kopalie. While in police custody, Kopalie screamed “I hope I didn’t kill him” and “I hope he dies.”

Norman, who suffered a brain hemorrhage because of the beating, is now permanently disabled and “a shadow of his former self.”

He was a father “who could build a house from the ground up,” Mahar told the court, recounting something Norman’s brother had said.

Norman’s mother had said Norman’s injury has been the hardest thing she’s had to go through,” Mahar said.

There is no prospect of Norman getting better and the injuries inflicted on Norman are “basically a murder without a dead body,” Mahar said.

“The man he was is gone, his family, his child, his girlfriend, his extended family in the South, have lost him, the man they knew is no more.”

Kopalie, wearing a blue prison shirt, looked calm during the sentencing.

Kopalie was 23 at the time of the beating, was serving a probation term, and has a previous criminal record.

“He comes from a hard upbringing, and grew up with violence in his home,” Mahar said.

Kopalie’s parents drank and he had a “very hard life,” Mahar said.

“I have given anxious consideration to my decision in this case,” he said, adding that the law requires him to consider ongoing systemic issues that affect aboriginal people.

But Mahar said Kopalie had displayed “troubling intent” in this case.

“Kopalie intended to do as much damage as he physically could,” Mahar said.

Kopalie had time during the drive from Norman’s home in Apex to Iqaluit and back to think about the consequences, and the cab driver had also “desperately tried” to stop him, Mahar said.

The outcome “could not have been worse.”

Mahar gave credit to Kopalie for his guilty plea and took his hard upbringing and background into account, “but what happened here was horrible.”

Kopalie will be assessed for trauma, and will get help for substance abuse while in prison, Mahar said.

“There’s a lot of underlying anger and hurt that you’ve got to get a handle on,” Mahar told Kopalie after delivering his sentence.

Mahar said Kopalie, who has a Grade 9 education, will have a chance to get his life “back on track.”

Kopalie, of small stature and straight-faced, rose after court and asked if he could hug his girlfriend, who sat in the back of the courtroom wearing a white parka, dark jeans and black high-heeled boots.

After they hugged and kissed, Kopalie asked her for a cigarette, so she pulled a pack out of her purse and gave him one before he was escorted out by a guard.

The maximum sentence for aggravated assault is 14 years.