Accused in child sexual assaults aquitted in Kuujjuaq

IQALUIT — Last week two Kuujjuaq men were acquitted on sexual assault charges involving very young girls, after the Crown couldn’t find witnesses and other evidence to sustain the charges.

Silas Angnatuk, 29, was aquitted on charges of sexual assault on a six-year old girl because there was a “reasonable doubt” about the weight of evidence against him.

On August 28, around 3 a.m. a six-year old girl ran out of Angnatuk’s dwelling in Kujjuaq with blood pouring down her legs, saying “Silas hurt me.”

Later, police found Angnatuk passed out in the house, but there were no witnesses able to link Angnatuk to the incident, and medical evidence was inconclusive.

In another incident, Peter Mark Angnatuk, 35, was charged with sexual assault causing bodily harm.

The charges followed an incident last April when a three-year old girl suffered severe injuries after being sexually assaulted.

Peter Mark Angnatuk had been babysitting the girl at the time of the incident.

The prosecution’s main witness in this case was the child’s mother, but she committed suicide a few months after the incident. Sexual assault testing at the Tulattavik Health Centre did not reveal traces of any sperm.

“She was my primary witness,” said Crown Prosecutor Christian Leblanc. “But she died, and a child of three years is too young to testify.”