Child pornography charges stayed against cruise ship employee
Akshay Somaroo released from jail after nearly 4 months, returns to home country of Mauritius
Jack Ekwalak of Rankin Inlet is charged with first-degree murder in the death of a woman there last year. He appeared in court in Iqaluit on Tuesday. (File photo)
A cruise ship employee charged with child pornography offences last year has seen the charges against him stayed and has returned to his home country of Mauritius.
“Though late, I was granted justice,” Akshay Somaroo said in a written statement to Nunatsiaq News through his lawyer Lauren Shadley.
He also thanked Shadley, his family and the Canadian justice system in the statement.
Somaroo, 31, a Mauritian national, was arrested Sept. 1 in a joint operation carried out by the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency with support from Fisheries and Oceans Canada.
RCMP alleged one photograph of an underaged male was found by border services officers on the cruise ship World Explorer after it arrived in Frobisher Bay, according to court documents.
Somaroo was charged with one count of possession of child pornography and one count of importing child pornography.
Prosecuting lawyers filed the stay of proceedings Feb. 7 on Somaroo’s case, putting a halt to court proceedings with no presumption of guilt or innocence. If, after a year, the Crown does not resume prosecution, the charge is “deemed never to have been commenced,” according to the Criminal Code of Canada.
On every file, the prosecution “applies the decision to prosecute test, which requires a reasonable prospect of conviction, and public interest to prosecute,” Nathalie Houle, communications adviser at the Public Prosecution Service of Canada (PPSC), said in an email to Nunatsiaq News.
“A stay of proceeding being entered by the prosecution means that the PPSC concluded that the decision to prosecute test was not met.”
Shadley filed a motion in January arguing Somaroo’s rights under Section 8 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms were violated as a result of the search that led to his arrest.
Section 8 ensures everyone has the right to be secure against unreasonable search or seizure. The motion was set to be argued in court on March 6.
Somaroo was released from custody the same day the stay was filed. By then, he had spent approximately four months in an Iqaluit jail.
Not saying his innocent but it was stayed, he was taken off a ship, arrested and had to find his own way home. Again, I am not saying he’s innocent, but he may come for restitution of lost wages/job and other expenses afterwards against the investigating agencies.