Nunavut court: Arviat man on trial for raping eight-year-old, sex charges against two others

The Nunavut Court of Justice is this week hearing the case of an Arviat man who faces 11 sex charges involving minor complainants, including an allegation that he snuck into the room and an eight-year-old girl and raped her. (FILE PHOTO)

An Arviat man faces two trials in Iqaluit this week on sex charges against minors, including an allegation that he snuck into the bedroom of an eight-year-old girl and raped her.

Billy Iblauk, 28, is accused of 11 charges involving three complainants, including three counts of touching a person under the age of 16 for a sexual purpose and two counts of sexual assault.

Iblauk, a short, stocky man, fidgeted frequently on day one of his first trial April 14, often shaking his leg and sometimes cracking his knuckles behind defence lawyer Tamara Fairchild’s desk at the Nunavut Court of Justice.

The trial, heard before Justice Bonnie Tulloch, who is sitting alone without a jury, arises from incident alleged to have occurred some time in October 2011 with an eight-year-old girl.

Iblauk faces two charges in connection with that incident — one of sexual assault and one count of touching a person under the age of 16.

Iblauk is alleged to have snuck into the girl’s room and raped her while in her bed.

The girl testified in a different room inside the Nunavut Court of Justice linked to the courtroom by video equipment so that she did not have to look at him while testifying.

Crown prosecutor Priscilla Ferrazzi brought out two dolls, one male and one female, and asked the girl to use them to describe what happened.

The girl said she was in her bedroom with an older sister, who was asleep.

She maneuvered the male doll on top of the female doll, and told the court that Iblauk’s penis went inside her.

When Ferrazzi asked if that hurt her, the girl said yes.

The girl also said that afterwards, when she would see Iblauk in the community, she would give him the middle finger “because he sexed me.”

The defence is set to cross-examine the girl April 15.

A different older sister of the complainant also appeared as a Crown witness on the morning of April 14.

The sister was the first person the girl told about the incident. When the older sister heard what happened, she tracked Iblauk down at a house in Arviat.

When she found him, she said she kicked him and told him she was going to tell the RCMP about what he did.

The woman agreed with Fairchild that she was furious and in a rage.

“I was asking him why he did what he did to a child,” the witness said.

The witness agreed with Fairchild that she kicked him, even though she knew he had mental challenges, such as schizophrenia and acted “weird” at times.

She also said she and Iblauk saw each other after the incident outside a community centre, and that Iblauk said he was “sorry” for doing “unorganized things.”

The witness said she encouraged the girl to tell her story to the RCMP.

Fairchild questioned the witness on how much influence she had on encouraging her sister while giving a statement to police.

Fairchild asked the witness if her younger sister would usually do whatever she was told — the witness answered yes through an interpreter.

The defence lawyer also asked if the witness helped the girl remember details of her story — again, the witness answered yes.

The trial continues April 15. The two trials are expected to last about four days.

Iblauk will be tried on the nine other charges in at second trial, scheduled later this week. That trial involves two complainants.