Former RCMP officer’s sexual assault sentence reduced by 5 years
Mosesie Ikkidluak convicted in 2024 of sexual assault
Mosesie Ikkidluak leaves court in Iqaluit on June 24 after being sentenced to nine years in prison for sexual assault. After a successful appeal, Ikkidluak’s sentence is reduced to four years. (File photo by Jeff Pelletier)
Nunavut’s Court of Appeal has cut the sentence a former Iqaluit RCMP special constable is serving for sexual assault from nine years in prison to four.
Just over a year ago, Justice Paul Bychok sentenced Mosesie Ikkidluak to nine years in federal prison after a jury found him guilty of three counts of sexual assault.
Ikkidluak was in his late thirties at the time.
He was charged Dec. 21, 2021, in connection with the assaults — one in 2008 and two more in 2021 — all involving the same person.
In each instance, the victim was sleeping at the time of the assault.
The victim’s identity cannot be published due to a court-ordered publication ban.
In his sentencing, Bychok rejected a joint submission from the Crown and the defence that would have seen Ikkidluak get a four-year prison sentence.
Bychok said the proposal was “out of whack” and “completely unhinged.”
“Mr. Ikkidluak’s offences are objectively graver than the parties have portrayed them,” Bychok said in his ruling.
But Nunavut Court of Appeal judges Ritu Khullar, Sheila MacPherson, Alice Wooley disagreed in their decision, dated July 10.
The three justices wrote that the nine-year sentence imposed by Bychok was “harsh and crushing to the appellant’s prospects for rehabilitation.”
Sentencing judges are expected to accept the joint recommendations by Crown and defence and if they choose not to they must explain why, the appeals judges said, noting that Bychok did not comply with that expectation and his reasoning was not persuasive.
He “mischaracterized” and “misrepresented” the joint recommendation by saying it reflected a “thoroughly discredited attitudes towards – and a shocking indifference to – the plague of sexual violence faced daily by Inuit girls and women.”
As well, Bychok didn’t take into account the difficulty of serving a nine-year term in southern prison, especially as a police officer, the justices said.
“These offences were a serious and recurring but otherwise isolated misstep in the appellant’s otherwise prosocial life,” they said.
Justice Bychok, as usual, was entirely correct in his characterization of this sentencing submission.
I’m all for rehabilitation … of petty thieves and and young, ignorant people. Not sexual predators. And especially not sexual predators who abuse positions of significant authority.
I have the utmost respect for our Court of Appeal Justices. But I believe they made a poor choice in this decision. Nunavut will now be marginally safer for four years instead of nine.
Justice Bychok will be missed on the bench. Though I expect many local lawyers and a few of his colleagues are happy to see hard justice retire in Nunavut.
Justice isn’t supposed to be “hard”. Instead, it is supposed to be fair, balanced and proportionate. That’s something that a certain judge never understood in spite of numerous attempts on the part of the Court of Appeal to educate him on that.
Make Iqaluit Great Again – knew that you would comment with your bleeding-heart and biased commentary. John K said it correctly.
Yes. I do have a heart (unlike the vast majority who comment on justice stories in NN). Thanks for the compliment!
a bleeding heart!
Fair to whom?
Everyone? Or just criminals?
Do his victims deserve fairness and balance? This is a life sentence for them, they’re going to carry this forever. Which is quite a bit longer than 9 years.
What about the law abiding members of the public? Does the person afraid to leave their apartment at Iqaluit House deserve fairness, too? What about the nurses that get abused because they won’t hand over narcotics? The children who live every day in fear of someone who should protect them?
When I watch the goings on in our streets … it doesn’t seem Like Paul Bychok is the one in need of enlightenment.
I agree 100%. I bet the sleeping women that this “otherwise pro social ’ predator assaulted would agree too.
There was only one woman involved. Of course, you skipped over that because you and all your types who comment on here want so much to assume that this man is some sort of subhuman predator who preys on multiple women.
*Special constable* not a real officer.
victimized twice, he knew he got away with it once and did it again. this is not Justice for the victim
The criminal justice system does not care about the victim’s justice, only for the accused to be treated fairly.
Yes, he was a ‘special constable’ and not a ‘real’ police officer, but he still was in a position of policing authority and abused that position.
This is what is wrong with the Justice system. The fact that he is an officer should have zero barring other than he should have been setting the utmost example and be law abiding! Which he did not, multiples times!! What about the victim? There’s no justice for them! What an awful thing to have happen to someone that most definitely will have a great impact on them for the rest of their life. Yes, he should be greatly impacted by the maximum sentence and serving no less than that! There should be no appeals for sexual predators and no special treatment due to their position or how they may be treated in federal prison. They deserve what comes to them! Nunavut justice system failed again!
Words cannot begin to describe how disgusted I am. My blood is boiling.
It’s interesting that all three of the appeals judges were women.
This is the sad reality that predators don’t have any fear of the justice system or any consequences of their actions. But the victim will have lifelong PTSD from these traumatic attacks. This is very disappointing to see time and time again.
“sentence imposed by Bychok was “harsh and crushing to the appellant’s prospects for rehabilitation.”
Lots of room for rehab and a bit of rot should have been the outcome . the victim is still the victim and wears it for life . I mean he’s an adult it’s not 1,2,3 timeouts over . This man has a very good chance at never reoffending , but still he needs to rot a bit more than 5 years wouldn’t you think ? I want to do the same thing to him when he gets out anger and rage mostly my feelings even more because he was to server and protect and I have know clue who the victim is . So no justice has not been served you have not done your diligence you have let this community and your colleagues down .
thought !!!??!! He’ll be put in ten hair cuts maybe less
That is horrible decision. Sexual assault wounds, people’s lies and he should pay the ultimate price. 9 years isn’t even enough. The court system is sickening when it comes to sentencing sexual assaults
From what I’ve heard, the real thrust of the decision was that Bychok jumped the joint recommendation without giving good reasons to do so. The decision isn’t provided in the story but I’ve heard the judges kind of indicated they were capping themselves at the joint position but that 4 years wasn’t the only sentence available. I’m not sure how much precedential value this decision will have.
The Canadian legal system has become a joke.
How can this be called “Justice”
We need to protect our most vulnerable members of society, women and children from predators and to do this we need stricter punishments to make predators think twice before hurting women and children.
A couple of months here, 18 months there, conditional sentences, reduced time goes to show these judges are not look to deter this type of behavior or look a rehabilitating the offenders.
We need a deterrent! We need to protect society’s most vulnerable from the wicked.
Just disgusted with this legal system today.