Verdict in historic Nunavut sex case delayed two more months

Johnny Meeko, in ball hat, exits the Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit in May 2017. (PHOTO BY STEVE DUCHARME)

A verdict in the long-standing case of alleged sex-offender, Johnny Meeko, has been postponed for at least two months, due in part to “overly optimistic” estimates for time needed to go through materials, Nunavut Justice Neil Sharkey said Sept. 14.

In a brief statement read at the Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit, Sharkey said he has made “great progress” sifting through hundreds of pages of testimony given during Meeko’s two-week, judge-alone trial in August 2015.

“I will, realistically, require another couple of months,” Sharkey explained.

Meeko, a retired teacher who spent his career on the Belcher Islands and Sanikiluaq, is accused of 32 counts alleging sex crimes committed between 1978 and 2007.

The allegations range from sexual touching to rape.

While closing submissions from lawyers were heard in December 2016, the case was derailed and briefly re-opened by Sharkey after lawyers successfully petitioned the court to enter new evidence in January.

That evidence dealt with the possibility of collusion among one or more of Meeko’s nine accusers, but Meeko dropped his request for a retrial in May, citing logistical hurdles and a loss of confidence in a proposed witness.

Sharkey did not fault Meeko for the added delays incurred by his petition to reopen the trial, but said May 29 that he would have to start “from square-one” on a verdict, so he could revisit testimony and evidence filed nearly two years earlier.

Sharkey told the court Sept. 14 that, at the time, he “felt the need to move with some haste to deliver the verdict” when he set the mid-September court date to give his decision.

“I must admit now that my estimate has been overly optimistic,” he said, offering Dec. 1 as the new date for delivery of his decision.

Meeko was not present in the courtroom during Sharkey’s statements. Lawyers in the matter had already been notified of the impending adjournment.