Kuujjuaq man will spend year in prison with pot dealers he owes $20,000

KUUJJUAQ – Don't send me to jail in St-Jérôme: that was Elijah Hubloo's heartfelt plea to the travelling court on March 29.

On March 29, Michel Solomon, Hubloo's lawyer, urged Judge Daniel Bédard to hand his client a sentence of two years plus one day to be served in a federal penitentiary.

Provincial inmates from Nunavik are generally sent to St-Jérôme detention centre in the Laurentians, about one hour north of Montreal.

Hubloo told Bédard he was terrified about going to the jail in St-Jérôme, saying he would end up serving his time isolated in the "hole" for his own protection.

That's because he owes money to some inmates and fears what they would do to him.

Hubloo told Bédard he owes about $20,000 for marijuana he bought but never paid for.

Hubloo, 35, had pleaded guilty to a large number of charges in connection with four booze-fueled incidents that took place between this past December and March 26.

In the first incident, Hubloo ransacked a house and resisted arrest. In the second, he threatened his girlfriend and tried to light the gas tank of her four-wheeler with a cigarette lighter.

On another occasion, Hubloo assaulted his girlfriend, then escaped briefly from custody at the Kuujjuaq police station. And most recently, he stole a jacket and fled from the Tulattavik hospital while he in custody.

During his court appearance, Hubloo, who has a shaved head marked by a recently stitched-up wound, sat in the prisoner's box and sobbed into a Kleenex, blowing his nose frequently.

Despite Hubloo's testimony, Bédard told the court he thought it would be a "big jump" for Hubloo to go to a federal penitentiary.

Hubloo only received conditional sentences for prior convictions.

Bédard said Hubloo's current string of offenses, although indictable, were "not the worst cases." For example, the jacket he stole was returned.

Hubloo looked downcast as Bédard told him he could not impose a sentence simply to accommodate his lawyer's request.

"I can't do that," he said. "Drug debts are not a point to be considered in the quantum of a sentence."

Instead Bédard gave Hubloo a 12-month sentence and suggested he speak to jail officials about his fears of other inmates.

Inuit were previously in their own wing of the St-Jérôme jail, but now, due to overcrowding, are often housed in other areas.