Lawyers argue over sentencing of Nunavut killer

Pauloosie Padluq’s lawyer James Morton is arguing for a lighter sentence to reflect his clients rehabilitative efforts so far and to help continue that trend into the future. Crown lawyer Martin Tooke says Padluq’s violent criminal past, and his behaviour on the night he killed Qummuattuq Simeonie in Kimmirut demand a longer prison term. (PHOTO BY STEVE DUCHARME)

The defence lawyer for Kimmirut-born Pauloosie Padluq, who pleaded guilty to manslaughter in August 2015, asked the Nunavut Court of Justice April 29 for a lenient sentence for his client to bolster Padluq’s chances of rehabilitation.

Lawyer James Morton admitted to Justice Bonnie Tulloch during sentencing submissions in Iqaluit that Padluq, 37, who stabbed and killed Qummuattuq Simeonie on Sept. 2, 2014 in Kimmirut, is a danger to those around him when he is intoxicated.

“He’s a problem when drinking — more than a problem, he kills people,” Morton said.

Simeonie was 20 years old at the time of his death.

But since Padluq’s arrest on Sept. 3, 2014, Morton said his client has taken important steps towards rehabilitation, including completing courses in substance abuse, alternatives to violence and carving while housed at Iqaluit’s minimum security Makigiarvik facility.

“This individual is at a point where he may be rehabilitated and become a productive member of society,” Morton said.

For that reason, Morton argued that Tulloch should sentence Padluq to four and a half years in prison.

That sentence, combined with time already served by Padluq, would give Nunavut correctional staff the option of keeping Padluq at Makigiarvik — where Morton said Padluq has made important strides through programming and family visits — instead of shipping him south.

Inmates who have up to two years remaining on a sentence can stay within the territorial correctional system.

Normally, Morton said a slightly higher sentence of five or six years would be appropriate in Padluq’s situation.

And if Tulloch delayed her sentencing by a few months, after which Padluq will have served even more time, the chances of keeping Padluq in Nunavut would increase, Morton argued.

But Tulloch did not appear to agree with Morton’s argument.

“I’m not going to do through the backdoor what we can’t do through the front door,” Tulloch said.

According to an agreed statement of facts submitted by defence and Crown lawyers to Tulloch, Padluq inflicted a single stab wound to Simeonie’s chest in the early morning of Sept. 2 after the pair got into a fight while intoxicated at a house party.

The wound, 10.5 cm deep, pierced Simeonie’s heart and was inflicted by a kitchen knife, likely at the house party, and led to his death a few hours later, the statement said.

The wound did not kill Simeonie instantly, and both he and Padluq left the party shortly after the incident.

The two fought over a third person not at the party — a person Padluq was convicted of sexually assaulting in 2011 and who Simeonie was involved with at the time of the stabbing, court documents said.

Police discovered Simeonie’s body around 7 a.m. Sept. 2, 2014, in a laneway behind the school, the statement said.

A trail of Simeonie’s blood was found leading from the house party to his body, while a trail of Padluq’s blood was found leading away from Simeonie’s body, the court heard.

A witness saw the two men fighting near the school after the stabbing incident, according to the court record.

Padluq sustained injuries to his face and hands as a result of the fight at the house party, the agreed statement said.

Shortly after his arrest on Sept. 3, 2014, Padluq admitted to the killing, court documents said, and Padluq entered a guilty plea in Iqaluit on Aug. 27, 2015.

But Crown prosecutor Martin Tooke argued that Tulloch should sentence Padluq to six or seven years in prison because of a number of aggravating factors.

Tooke said Padluq’s previous criminal record is “highly aggravating.”

That record includes two convictions for sexual assault, in 2008 and 2011, and two convictions of sexual interference, also in 2011, said Tooke.

And the victims of those convictions were four different residents of Padluq’s hometown, Kimmirut, the prosecutor told Tulloch.

Tooke said other aggravating factors Tulloch should consider are Padluq’s intoxication at the time of the stabbing, that Padluq escalated the fight by searching for and using a kitchen knife, the amount of force used to pierce Simeonie’s heart and that Padluq did not try to help Simeonie after stabbing him.

Despite Padluq’s claim of being a changed man, a claim found in a psychological assessment report entered into evidence by the defence, Tooke said Padluq’s moral blameworthiness is high.

Therefore, this manslaughter case is closer to near-murder than to a near-accident, Tooke said.

“I suggest Mr. Padluq has no idea of the damage he’s inflicted on his community,” the prosecutor said.

But Morton said Tulloch should also consider a number of mitigating factors, including that Padluq’s past is a “catalogue of Gladue factors.”

Gladue factors stem from a Supreme Court of Canada decision that said sentences for Aboriginal offenders must take into consideration the historical and social trauma suffered by Aboriginal people.

Padluq himself was sexually abused both at home and at school — one of the victims of convicted pedophile Ed Horne, Morton said.

And Padluq has made big strides towards rehabilitation while incarcerated, becoming Makigiarvik’s most prolific and successful carver, the defence lawyer argued.

The psychological assessment report noted that Padluq is not a “criminal type,” that he is a hard worker and that he is not beyond rehabilitation, Morton said.

Tulloch said that Padluq’s sentencing should take place in Kimmirut, given that the killing occurred in that small community.

The judge scheduled Padluq’s sentencing for Sept. 13 at 9:30 a.m. in Kimmirut.