Court dismisses appeal of man who killed 17-year-old girlfriend

Nunavut’s appeal court has dismissed the appeal of an Igloolik man convicted of stabbing his teenaged girlfriend to death, according to a decision publicly released by the Nunavut Court of Appeal.

Jerry Ulayuruluk was sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 14 years in August 2023, after being convicted of second-degree murder for stabbing, his 17-year-old girlfriend, in the chest at a party in 2018. She died within minutes of being stabbed.

A publication ban prevents Nunatsiaq News from reporting any information that could identify the victim.

Evidence presented during his trial indicated Ulayuruluk, who was 43 at the time, was intoxicated at the time of the incident.

During the trial, and again in his appeal of the conviction which was heard Sept. 23, Ulayuruluk argued that he didn’t have the “intent for murder” and that he was so drunk at the time that he didn’t understand his actions could lead to the teen’s death, according to the written decision from the Nunavut Court of Appeal released Friday.

Appeal court Justices Suzanne Duncan, Alice Woolley and Kevin Feth found Ulayuruluk’s argument “wholly without merit” and upheld the original 2023 verdict by Justice Christian Lyons.

“In my view, a person would have to be in a blackout, or state of automatism, without any awareness of what they were doing for them not to foresee that death would be the likely result from such a stabbing,” Lyons said in his verdict, noting the evidence did not suggest Ulayuruluk was in a state of “blackout.”

In dismissing Ulayuruluk’s appeal, the appeal court justices said he didn’t present any new evidence or dispute any of Lyons’ “factual finding” about the case.