Court records show pattern of domestic violence in lead-up to Kuujjuaq deaths
Quebec police offer few details about deaths
A woman who was found dead in Kuujjuaq last week had court-ordered protections in place to keep a man, who was found dead the same morning, away from her.
Early in the morning on Feb. 5, Kativik Regional Police Force officers responded to a domestic dispute at a home in the Nunavik community, where they found a woman with serious injuries and marks of violence. She died shortly afterwards in Kuujjuaq’s hospital.
Later that same morning, just after 10 a.m., police said they discovered the body of a man in a separate residence.
On Feb. 11, the Sûreté du Québec identified the deceased woman as Elisapee Angma, 44; the deceased man is Thomassie Cain, 41.
Sûreté du Québec spokesperson Sgt. Nancy Fournier told Nunatsiaq News that Cain is believed to have been seen at the scene of the attack on Angma.
A third man was found injured in the same residence as the woman on Feb. 5, but police said the man is a witness and not a suspect in either death.
Police are not saying if they suspect homicide in either death, nor what they know about whether the two incidents are connected.
Court records show Cain had a recent history of alleged assaults and harassment of Angma, prompting a series of court-ordered conditions for the man to stay away from her.
Cain was charged with a Nov. 3 assault causing bodily harm to the Kuujjuaq woman.
He was released from custody on the condition that he “not communicate or attempt to communicate in any way” with Angma.
But just weeks later, on Nov. 29, Cain was charged with breaking that condition as well as another condition not to consume alcohol.
Cain was charged Dec. 30, once again, for breaking an order to not be in the physical presence of Angma. He was then put on court ordered curfew that required him to be home between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m.
But on Jan. 16, Cain was charged with breaking that order and again for trying to contact Angma. He was also charged with uttering death threats to a Kativik Regional Police Force constable.
Following his arrest, Cain was held in custody in Kuujjuaq. At his bail hearing on Jan. 21 – about two weeks before Angma’s death – the Crown opposed his release, according to Geneviève Lamontagne, an assistant chief prosecutor for the director of criminal and penal prosecutions in Amos, Que.
But, Lamontagne confirmed, the court ordered Cain’s release.
“Out of respect for the ongoing investigation, we will not comment further on the current situation,” she said in French.
Nunatsiaq News has requested a transcript of that hearing.
The newspaper has also requested details from the Kativik police, though police did not respond by deadline.
As of Feb. 9, the SQ said an autopsy was being done on Angma’s body, while investigators continue to interview witnesses in Kuujjuaq.
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