Mentally-ill Nunavut man convicted of manslaughter

A mentally-ill Igloolik man, whose name may not be published or broadcast, is guilty of manslaughter in the 2012 killing of Tracy Uttak, Justice Andy Mahar ruled Sept. 10. (FILE PHOTO)

A young Nunavut man with serious mental health issues has been found guilty of manslaughter for the 2012 stabbing death of Tracy Uttak in Igloolik, Justice Andrew Mahar ruled at the Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit Sept. 10.

“This is one of the most difficult decisions I’ve had to make,” Mahar said.

The identity of the convicted man, now 19, is protected under a court order because he was only 16 when he stabbed Uttak 27 times in her home, in front of her four children on Nov. 29, 2012.

The young man had already admitted to the killing before the trial got underway, so Mahar said he had two issues to decide.

First, if the killing should be considered a murder, and second whether the accused was criminally responsible for the death or if he suffered from an attack of mental illness at the moment he killed Uttak.

At her client’s trial in April, defence lawyer Shayne Kert argued that the convicted man should not be held criminally responsible — because he suffered from auditory hallucinations that compelled him to hurt, and even kill, people around him.

Mahar heard from different witnesses that those hallucinations increased in the weeks leading up to Uttak’s death.

The man’s brother, for example, heard the troubled teen shout, “Get out of my head! Get out of my head,” when the teen was alone in his own bedroom the same day Uttak was killed.

And the convicted man’s mother said by the time her son was 16, he was having two episodes a month of thrashing and losing consciousness, including episodes that occurred just two days before Uttak’s death.

But Mahar ultimately sided with the Crown’s argument at trial, namely that the convicted man, although mentally ill, planned to mug Uttak and rob the home she shared with her common-law partner for weed and money.

At a preliminary hearing in June 2014, accepted as trial evidence by Mahar, the judge heard testimony from at least four witnesses who said the young man either told them about his plans to rob Uttak, or asked them for help to mug her.

The convicted man knew Uttak’s common-law partner, a known weed dealer in Igloolik, was away on a hunting trip the night Uttak died, Mahar said.

“I find on a balance of probabilities that he did exactly what he said he wanted to do. He went to [Uttak’s] home to rob her, and he used violence,” Mahar said.

The defence’s case hinged on the testimony of a forensic psychiatrist, whose primary opinion was that the young man should not be found criminally responsible.

But Mahar said that report was “fundamentally flawed” because the psychiatrist didn’t have critical information to put to the accused.

For example, the young man never told the psychiatrist about his desire to rob Uttak’s home of weed and money, with violence if necessary.

“I take it that he wilfully withheld that information [from the psychiatrist],” Mahar said.

And no evidence was given from any witnesses that the voices the young man heard told him to enter Uttak’s home, or to kill Uttak in particular, Mahar said.

So although Mahar accepted evidence that the young man suffered from auditory hallucinations compelling him to violence, the link between the hallucinations and the killing were “weak.”

But after finding the young man should be held criminally responsible for Uttak’s violent death, Mahar said he could not find the man guilty of second-degree murder — the charge prosecutors tried to prove at trial.

That’s because Mahar said he had reasonable doubt as to whether the accused could form the intent to kill on Nov. 29 due to his mental health issues and due to the effects of propane-sniffing he was experiencing when he entered Uttak’s house.

Once inside the house, Mahar found the young man was under a “haze of fear, intoxication, anger and underlying confusion,” caused by his mental health problems, before he committed “the horrific act.”

After Mahar issued his verdict, Kert took a moment to consult with her client, who busied himself during the proceedings by writing or drawing on blank pages.

“I had some concern about whether or not [my client] understood what just happened. I’m not persuaded at the moment he did. But that’s not because of your honour,” Kert said.

Prosecutors then confirmed for Mahar that they would be seeking an adult sentence for the convicted man.

That’s likely because the crown will seek a longer sentence than three years, which is the maximum sentence a youth offender can receive under the Youth Criminal Justice Act for any offence considered less serious than murder — like manslaughter.

Kert told the judge that a bed had already been made available for her client at the Brockville Mental Health Centre in the Ottawa-area, regardless of the judge’s verdict.

Mahar scheduled sentencing submissions to begin Nov. 2 at 1:30 p.m.