Nunavut premier’s son gets 90 days on sexual interference charge

Ian Taptuna, 24, appeared in court Nov. 4 for sentencing on a conviction for sexual interference. (FILE PHOTO)

Convicted this past June of sexually interfering with an underage girl, Ian Taptuna, the son of Nunavut Premier Peter Taptuna, appeared in an Iqaluit courtroom Nov. 4 for a sentencing decision from Justice Beverly Browne.

Taptuna received a 90 day jail sentence, to be followed by a 12-month-probation period.

Crown prosecutors elected to prosecute Taptuna summarily, and his conviction, handed down this past June following a trial carried an automatic mandatory sentence of 90 days in jail.

After the hearing, he was taken into custody to start his sentence, Crown Prosecutor Tracy Buffalo told Nunatsiaq News.

Taptuna’s defence lawyer, Marie-Josée Lafleur had planned to allege her client’s rights were violated under the Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

That application would have been made Nov. 4, prior to the sentencing decision.

But the Charter application by the defence was abandoned, Buffalo said.

The Nunavut RCMP arrested Taptuna, 24, in Iqaluit in February 2016 and charged him with one count of sexual interference and one count of sexual assault.

After a two-day judge-alone trial held June 3 and June 4, Browne found Taptuna guilty of sexual interference—the sexual touching of an underage person.

Browne rejected Taptuna’s testimony at trial, which you can read about here, relying instead on the testimony of the young female complainant, whose identity is protected by court order.

Taptuna, intoxicated, fondled the pre-teen girl’s bottom and exposed himself while the complainant slept with another young girl during a sleepover, Browne ruled.

Taptuna is not the first son of a well-known Canadian figure to be in court on serious charges: Michel Chrétien, the son of former Prime Minister Jean Chrétien, pleaded not guilty — and was eventually acquitted — on charges he had sexually assaulted a 19-year-old woman in the bedroom of his apartment in 2002.

And in 2008, Mark Lafleur, son of hockey legend Guy Lafleur, pleaded guilty to 14 criminal charges, including assault, uttering threats to a minor and forcible confinement, although he was acquitted of sexual assault.