It was ‘surreal,’ police officer testifies at Ibey murder trial
Jurors hear graphic details of what officers found at scene where Savanna Pikuyak of Sanirajak died
On Wednesday, the jury in the Nikolas Ibey murder trial heard vivid testimony from one of the first officers on the scene where Savanna Pikuyak died in 2022. (Photo by Jorge Antunes)
The four Ottawa police officers dispatched to 34C Woodvale Green at around 10 a.m. on Sept. 11, 2022, didn’t know what they were walking into.
Initial reports from the Ottawa Police Service dispatcher indicated there had been a stabbing. But when the officers arrived at the row house, dispatch told them the man inside had reported murdering his roommate and was now threatening suicide.
That scenario was described in an Ottawa courtroom Wednesday, the second day in the first-degree murder trial of Nikolas Ibey.
Ibey, 35, has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, but guilty to second degree murder.
On Sept. 12, 2022, Ibey was charged with murdering his roommate, Savanna Pikuyak, 22, at their shared home in Ottawa.
Pikuyak had moved from Sanirajak to Ottawa to study nursing at Algonquin College and had been in the city for less than a week.
Const. Matthew Dunn testified Wednesday morning that after a knock on the door went unanswered, the four officers entered the home. Their guns were drawn.
There were two staircases inside, one leading upstairs and the other to the basement. The entry to the home was narrow.
Dunn said he could hear — but could not see — Const. Cazapanta speaking to someone in the basement. It was Ibey, who police ordered to lie face down on the floor. (Cazapanta’s first name was not read out in court).
Officers asked Ibey if anyone else was in the house.
Ibey said: “She’s upstairs,” Dunn testified.
Cazapanta and a third officer remained downstairs with Ibey, while Dunn and a fourth officer went upstairs, guns still drawn.
The officers found the body of Pikuyak, lying face down and naked except for a black shirt and bra twisted around her arms and head, Dunn said.
He said no more than five minutes had passed since they had arrived and drawn their weapons.
It was “surreal,” Dunn said several times.
He said it was obvious Pikuyak was dead, and there was only need to request one paramedic to attend the scene rather than sending a team.
The officers, meanwhile, secured the crime scene.
In her opening remarks, Crown lawyer Sonia Beauchamp said the cause of death was “obstruction of airway and compression of the neck.”
The trial continues Thursday in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.
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