Cape Dorset man gets lifetime firearms ban

A Cape Dorset man will spend more than a year in jail after pleading guilty to abusing his common-law spouse at gunpoint in their own home.

Kooyoo Pootoogook, 37, won’t be allowed to possess a firearm for the rest of his life under a court ban imposed during his sentencing on Nov. 23.

A Nunavut court judge imposed the lifetime ban because of Pootoogook’s previous firearms convictions, according to police attending Pootoogook’s court appearance in Cape Dorset.

Const. Joe Baines, who investigated the case, said the incident was driven by Pootoogook’s jealousy of his common-law wife. The investigation spanned a five-month period.

Pootoogook was charged with attempted murder in October, 2003, after police responded to a call from one of his neighbours.

Police later found Pootoogook’s common-law wife with an injured finger. She was sent to the nursing station with non-life-threatening injuries, and then went to the women’s shelter in Iqaluit.

Before his sentencing, Crown prosecutors dropped the charge of attempted murder, along with charges of uttering threats and pointing a firearm.

But Pootoogook pleaded guilty to several other charges, including forcible confinement, two counts of assault with a weapon, assault causing bodily harm, and firearms-related charges.

Pootoogook was sentenced to 16 months at the Baffin Correctional Centre.