Cape Dorset man charged with confinement, attempted murder

GREG YOUNGER-LEWIS

A police officer investigating an attempted murder case in Cape Dorset believes the family of the victim suspected she was in trouble, but didn’t realize how bad the abuse had become.

A Cape Dorset hunter and part-time carver faces several charges – including forcible confinement and multiple counts of assault – arising from incidents that the police allege have been happening since May.

Police say Kooyoo Pootoogook, 36, turned himself in to police at the Cape Dorset detachment after a woman called police on Oct. 16 from a neighbour’s home.

Const. Joe Baines said police picked up the woman, and seeing she was “obviously injured,” took her to the Cape Dorset Health Centre, where she was treated and released.

Baines would not comment on the victim’s injuries. Police say the 35-year-old woman, who cannot be identified under a court-ordered publication ban, is at the women’s shelter in Iqaluit with her son.

Baines said the son had been staying with his relatives because of violence in the home.

“I think her family members knew [about troubles with the accused attacker],” Baines said. “But I don’t think they knew the severity of it.”

Wearing a hooded Toronto Maple Leafs jacket and blue sweatpants, Pootoogook appeared for a bail hearing on Oct. 24 at the Nunavut Court of Justice in Iqaluit. The accused appeared relaxed, laughing at jokes the crown attorney was telling in court. Pootoogook’s bail hearing was postponed until Nov. 4.

Pootoogook faces charges of attempted murder, forcible confinement, two counts of assault with a weapon, assault causing bodily harm, two counts of uttering threats, careless use of a firearm, pointing a firearm, and possession of a firearm contrary to a prohibition order.

Police said the charges are based on incidents that took place over a five-month period, but added that the woman was not confined for several months as reported in other media.