Woman accused of attacking children appears in Nunavut court

A judge has ordered Shepa Jar, accused of killing one of her children and harming her other two, to stay from her husband Anthony Angootealuk. (FILE PHOTO)

A Coral Harbour woman charged with attacking her three young children with a knife last month, killing one, appeared for the first time at Nunavut’s Court of Justice in Iqaluit June 2.

Shepa Jar, 28, is charged with the second-degree murder of her eight-year old daughter, along with two counts of attempted murder on her two young sons.

A solemn Jar entered the courtroom in a grey hoodie and track pants to appear before a Justice of the Peace.

Her few responses were limited to nods and barely-audible acknowledgments that she understood the courtroom proceedings.

At the request of Crown lawyer Barry McLaren, the Justice of the Peace ordered Jar to be committed to the Baffin Women’s Correctional Centre in Iqaluit until a first appearance before a judge Aug. 8.

Until that time, defense and Crown lawyers planned to begin building their cases on the charges.

Jar was ordered to have no communication with Anthony Angootealuk, her husband.

RCMP officers responded to a call May 12 to Jar’s residence in Coral Harbour where they discovered Jar and her three children with “multiple stab wounds.”

Jar and her two sons were medevaced to Winnipeg. Her daughter died at the nursing station in Coral Harbour.

Jar was arrested and charged immediately after being released from hospital May 29, the RCMP confirmed.

Jar’s two sons have also been released from the hospital and are in the care of family members, the RCMP told media June 1.