Salluit man charged with second-degree murder in disappearance of Salluit woman

A Salluit man, Johnny Papigatuk, has been charged with the murder of Ida Angutigirk, 41, also of Salluit. (FILE PHOTO)

(Updated 9:50 a.m. Aug. 6 with correct name of accused)

A man from Salluit has been charged with second-degree murder in the case of a woman from the Hudson Strait community of Salluit in Nunavik who was last seen this past May.

Paulusie Johnny Papigatuk, 37, of Salluit, also known either as Paulusie Johnny or Johnny Papigatuk, was arrested June 25 in Winnipeg and appeared June 27 at the Quebec court in Amos, where he was charged with the second-degree murder of Ida Angutigirk, 41, also of Salluit.

The Criminal Code of Canada says second-degree murder is “all murder that is not first degree murder is second degree murder,” that is, where the murder was not “planned and deliberate.”

A conviction on second-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence, although a judge can set eligibility for parole from between 10 and 25 years.

No information was available on Papigatuk’s next court appearance.

Angutigirk was last seen during the evening of May 19 and during the early hours of May 20, but her disappearance was only reported to the Kativik Regional Police Force on June 12.

“During their investigation there were some elements that made us think that she may have been the victim of a criminal act,” the Sûreté du Québec spokesperson Marie-Josée Ouellet said at the time.

That is why the SQ was called in to work alongside the KRPF, Ouellet said.

The SQ team of eight investigators arrived June 17 and spent several days interviewing various people in the community of 1,400.