Police to charge Nunavik man in April 9 killing of 16-year-old boy

A Puvirnituq man, 43, faces charges in connection with the death of a 16-year-old boy April 9. (FILE PHOTO)

(Updated, 1 p.m. April 11)

A Puvirnituq man has been charged with second degree murder in the April 9 death of a 16-year-old boy.

Aipellie Novalinga, 43, appeared in court by teleconference from Puvirnituq early April 11, said Amos-based Crown prosecutor Marie-Chantal Brassard.

The local detachment of the Kativik Regional Police Force in Puvirnituq received a call at about 1:30 a.m. April 9 about a dispute in a residence, the Sûreté du Québec said over the weekend.

When police arrived at the residence, they discovered the body of the teenaged boy, who was declared dead after his transfer to the Inuulitsivik health centre.

Police cannot name the victim because he is a minor.

His accused killer, Novalinga, remains in custody in Puvirnituq and will likely be transferred to the detention centre in Amos later this week, Brassard said.

Second-degree murder is ordinarily defined as an intentional killing that is not premeditated or planned, nor committed in a reasonable “heat of passion” or a killing caused by dangerous conduct and the offender’s obvious lack of concern for human life.

The minimum sentence is life in prison with no parole for 10 years, but sentences can be as long as life in prison without parole for 25 years

A team of SQ investigators flew into the Hudson Bay community of about 1,500 people April 10, according to the protocol followed by the KRPF and the provincial police force when a death takes place in Nunavik.

– with files from Jane George and Sarah Rogers