Man jailed nine months for punching, threatening woman with gun

A Pangnirtung man will spend nine months in jail after assaulting his common-law wife and threatening her with a rifle.

Justice Robert Kilpatrick sentenced Johnny Akulukjuk, 24, of Pangnirtung to nine months in jail for assault, a firearms offence and breaching a probation order to have no contact with his victim.

During an argument Nov. 2, 2011, Akulukjuk punched his partner on the side of the face in a dispute over a letter of apology he was supposed to write.

The next day, when the couple picked up their one-year old daughter from daycare, another argument broke out in front of the high school in Pangnirtung.

Akulukjuk threw another punch at his partner.

This blow glanced off of the victim’s cheek and struck their baby, who was in the hood of the victim’s amautik.

A worker from the high school got involved, allowing the victim to escape with the child into the school.

On Nov. 4, the RCMP received a call from the Arctic College centre in Pangnirtung about a man behind the school with a gun.

The victim was outside the college having a cigarette when she recognized Akulukjuk, who pointed a .22-calibre rifle at her.

Then she heard a gun shot.

According to witnesses, Akulukjuk fired the rifle into the air two or three times.

“I have no doubt that your common-law partner and everybody in the facility would have been terrified at what was potentially a dangerous and threatening event,” Kilpatrick said during Akulukjuk’s sentencing hearing

When police found Akulukjuk a short time later, he was still carrying the gun and a pocket full of ammunition.

Akulukjuk had already spent four months in jail for a previous assault against the victim and was still under a probation order to have no contact with her.

“Nunavut leads the country in the rate of domestic violence cases and you are part of a very big problem that affects women throughout this territory in every community and every walk of life,” Kilpatrick told Akulukjuk before he sentenced him to nine months in jail.