Nunavut court: man guilty on 7 of 10 historic sex charges
Judge wrestles with adult memories of decades-old events
Following a trial held Jan. 30, Nunavut Justice Sue Cooper has found Silas Takawgak, home community undisclosed, guilty on seven of 10 sex charges, all of which involve girls and young women, dating to between 1984 and 1994.
In her written judgment, Cooper anonymized all references to the complainants and did not disclose their community to protect their identities from being revealed.
The charges involve six different complainants, all of whom come from the same Nunavut community and all of whom know each other.
That means the main issue in the case is whether the complainants colluded with each other to fabricate their stories, or if their stories were honest, but tainted by the passage of time.
“That memories become less precise with time and that perceptions are influenced by intervening events and the passage of time is natural and understandable,” Cooper said in her judgment, dated Feb. 6 and issued Feb. 9.
Another related issue, Cooper said, is whether any of the complainants had a motive to fabricate any of the evidence they gave.
On the first three counts, she found Takawgak guilty.
Those charges — sexual assault, sexual intercourse with a female under 14, and uttering threats — date to 1987 and 1988, and involve a victim who was only 11 or 12 at the time.
In that incident, Takawgak forced the girl to have sex with him in his bedroom while his mother and two sisters sat in the living room.
Afterwards, he threatened to hurt or kill the girl if she told anybody about it, Cooper said
Cooper said the complainant’s evidence was “straight-forward and credible” and that there is nothing to suggest she fabricated her story.
She also found Takawgak guilty on four other counts that involved different victims at different times:
• charges of sexual touching and sexual assault on a girl aged seven to 10, dating to between Jan. 1, 1993 and Dec. 31, 1996; and,
• charges of sexual touching and sexual assault on a teenaged girl between Jan. 1, 1994 and Dec. 31, 1998;
On all four of those charges, Cooper found the witnesses told credible stories and did not fabricate their evidence.
But on three other charges, Cooper acquitted him.
Those not guilty verdicts are for one count of sexual assault alleged to have occurred between Jan. 1, 1993 and Dec. 31, 1994, one count of sexual assault between Sept. 1, 1988 and May 1, 1989, and one count of common assault between Jan. 1, 1984 and April 12, 1985.
Takawgak has yet to be sentenced.
(0) Comments