Nunavut hostage-taking suspect appears in court

Salamonie Shaa, 22, of Cape Dorset, who is accused of holding A four-year-old child hostage in an incident that is alleged to have occurred this past April 20, appeared in court May 18 to face nine charges. (FILE PHOTO)

A Cape Dorset man charged with attempted murder, assaulting a police officer with a meat cleaver and taking a four-year-old child as a hostage appeared in an Iqaluit courtroom May 18, according to court documents.

Police arrested Salamonie Shaa, 22, on April 20 for an incident alleged to have occurred in Cape Dorset on that same date.

Shaa faces nine charges related to the alleged incident, including:

• one count of attempted murder with a knife;

• two counts of assault with a meat cleaver;

• one count of taking a hostage with the intent of avoiding arrest;

• one count of resisting arrest;

• two counts of uttering death threats; and,

• two counts of breaching court probation orders.

The charges allege Shaa took one Cape Dorset resident as a hostage to avoid arrest, threatened to kill the person with a knife, assaulted them, and attacked an RCMP officer with a meat cleaver before being arrested.

Shaa is scheduled to appear by video conference in an Iqaluit courtroom on May 30 at 9:30 a.m.

This past April, the RCMP reported that a man held a four-year-old child hostage for five hours during a blizzard.

Police rushed the man and disarmed him after an altercation, police said at the time.