Two Iqaluit boys sentenced for role in home invasion, sexual assault

Justice Earl Johnson, in a written judgment issued Aug. 25, used deferred custody and probation orders to sentence two teenage boys from Iqaluit for the part they played this past October in a home invasion that led to the sexual assault of a woman at knifepoint.

The two boys, known as AL, 17, and IL, 16, helped their teenage cousin, known as SL, break into a house in the Lower Base neighbourhood in the early morning hours of Oct. 13, 2010.

The house was occupied at the time by a young single mother who was caring for a baby.

SL then entered a bedroom and held a 12-inch machete to the woman’s neck, demanding she have sex with him, Johnson said in his judgment.

After the woman talked him into moving to the bathroom to avoid waking her child, SL forced her to perform oral sex then had full sexual intercourse with her until he ejaculated, Johnson’s judgment said.

The boys left the house after that, but not before IL touched the woman’s vagina over her panties.

The incident alarmed many Iqaluit residents and prompted the Qulliit Status of Women Council to issue a statement on violence against women and children.

“Words alone will not put an end to sexual violence. It is time to act and to address the issue,” Donna Adams, president of Qulliit, said this past October.

SL’s charges, which include aggravated sexual assault, are to be deal with in court through a separate process.

But the other two boys pleaded guilty to a variety of charges Aug. 15.

Some of those charges relate to other incidents, including:

• a break-in and theft of liquor at the Iqaluit liquor warehouse on Sept. 30, 2010;

• a break-in and theft at the Water’s Edge restaurant on Oct. 19, 2010.

After police arrested them Oct. 20, 2010 for the restaurant break-in, the two boys admitted their involvement in the Oct. 13 break-in and told police their cousin SL had sexually assaulted the woman who lived there.

AL also pleaded guilty to:

• an assault charge dated Feb. 11, 2011;

• a charge of shoplifting at the Northmart on March 23, 2011; and

• a charge of possessing marijuana for the purpose of trafficking laid March 23, 2011.

In figuring out how to sentence the two boys, Johnson had to assess their degree of involvement in the Oct. 13 incident.

He also had to follow rules set out in the Youth Criminal Justice Act, which sets out how offenders between the ages 12 and 17 must be dealth with in court.

For AL, Johnson found that the boy did not know his cousin intended to sexually assault the single mother whose house they had broken into, and stood near the front of the house to act as a lookout.

“While it appears AL knew the residence was occupied, there is no evidence that he used any violence or made any threats to the complainant,” Johnson said.

Johnson sentenced the boy to a two-year probation term.

As for IL, Johnson found that that the sexual assault he committed by touching the woman’s vagina did not traumatize her as much as SL’s the knife-point sexual assault.

He also found that the boy made “good progress” at the young offender’s centre, where he has already spent 10 and a half months in custody.

A family member known as ML plans to take IL to another community, known only as “Town A,” to give the boy a fresh start.

To that end, Johnson sentenced the boy to a six-month deferred custody order, during which he must move to Town A, return to school and obey a curfew every day between 10:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m.

The names of youthful offenders younger than 18 may not be published or broadcast.