Guns only for hunting, judge tells armed robber

SEAN MCKIBBON
Nunatsiaq News

IQALUIT— A Clyde River man who received a three-year ban on owning a gun instead of the mandatory 10-year ban is not the only hunter in his family say members of the hamlet’s Hunters and Trappers Association.

Noah Ashevak pleaded guilty and was sentenced to three years in a federal prison and forbidden to own a gun or live in a home with guns because of an armed robbery attempt last October.

Because the court heard he provided food to his family through hunting, the remaining seven years of the mandatory ban were altered. Ashevak will be allowed to use a gun for hunting, but only outside of Clyde River.

“My parents don’t have… are unemployed. I am the only person who can support them and I was supporting them through hunting,” Ashevak said through a interpreter before being sentenced last Thursday.

“I don’t know why anyone would say that,” said James Arreak, the secretary manager of the Clyde River HTA. “He’s been a away for a while now and his family has been surviving.”

Ashevak’s lawyer, Tim Kavanagh, told the court that Ashevak’s father had heart trouble and that his mother had severe back pain until only recently, and that Ashevak supported his parents and had a young son through a common-law relationship.

“His father hunts a lot and his brother. They go out together,” said Manasie Audlakiak, the chairman of the HTA. Audlukiak said HTA members share their game also.

“The community help each other for country food.”

It wasn’t food that was on the 23-year-old Ashevak’s mind when he painted his face green, covered it with a nylon stocking and burst into a store with a loaded .243 calibre rifle which he pointed at the store’s owner Inutiq Iqaqrialu.

“He was after drug money that he thought was in the store,” Kavanagh said. He said his client told him there was no compelling or urgent reason for the crime and that he hadn’t understood the seriousness of it.

“His finger was on the trigger,” said Crown prosecutor Pam Clarke. Ashevak said nothing to Iqaqrialu during the attempted robbery, but did rub his fingers together indicating money. He then un-chambered a bullet and showed it to Ashevak, Clarke said.

A child was also in the store, but Ashevak never pointed his gun at anyone but Iqaqrialu, Kavanagh said. Upon hearing a snowmobile outside the store Ashevak fled ,and witnesses told police they saw him enter house 233 in Clyde River.

A second witness told police Ashevak had borrowed his rifle, and another said her Ashevak say that he had done the robbery, Clarke said. Ashevak made a full confession when police arrested him Clarke said.

Ashevak’s lawyer outlined some mitigating factors in the case, saying that the attempted robbery was unsuccessful and that in the past Ashevak had been a good member of the community, helping at community feasts and sharing his game with others.

“The child was never in any danger. Mr. Iqaqrialu told police that the child was laughing the entire time at the green face paint,” Kavanagh said.

In deciding Ashevak’s sentence, Judge Browne said that gun-related crimes were very serious and carried heavy penalties.

“The reason for that is that we’re not supposed to use guns to scare people and try to get money from them.” Browne said she would lock up anyone else in Nunavut who tried to use guns to commit crimes.

In her sentencing decision Browne took into consideration the 145 days Ashevak had served awaiting trial, crediting that time toward his mandatory four-year sentence.

“More and more, the government is saying we don’t want guns readily available anymore and you are part of the reason for that,” Browne told Ashevak.