Escaped inmate a free man again

Jerry Harry Papatsie, 31, is a free man – this time legally – after pleading guilty to escaping lawful custody and receiving credit for the three weeks he spent at the Baffin Correctional Centre after his re-arrest.

Papatsie, who still faces two sex charges, bolted from the Iqaluit courthouse by snowmobile on March 17.

He escaped after a show-cause hearing, during which a justice of the peace ordered him to stay in custody until his next court date.

Papatsie faces one count of sexual assault and one count of sexual interference. He returns to court June 2 to deal with those two charges.

Papatsie fled by snowmobile and was at large for two weeks until police found him hiding in an Iqaluit residence on April 1. He was in remand custody at BCC until his guilty plea and sentencing on the escaping lawful custody charge on April 24.

Papatsie, who maintains his innocence in connection with the sexual assault charges, panicked at the prospect of going to jail, defence lawyer Brad MacIsaac said.

“He reacted without thinking. It was a lapse in judgment,” MacIsaac said.