Judge sentences Gjoa Haven man to 15 years in prison for killing wife
Judge cites brutality of attack and impact on children in sentencing
A Gjoa Haven man was handed a 15-year sentence after being convicted of manslaughter in the death of his wife. (File photo by David Venn)
A Gjoa Haven man has been handed a 15-year sentence for killing his common-law wife in an alcohol-fuelled rage three years ago.
Nathaniel Anaittuq, 37, pleaded guilty to manslaughter earlier this year.
According to judge Chris Martin’s sentence, released by the Nunavut Court of Justice on Thursday, Anaittuq was at the home he shared with his common-law wife, Samantha Ihakkaq, along with some of their four children on Aug. 12, 2019.
Sometime after 10 p.m., an argument between the couple escalated into Anaittuq physically assaulting Ihakkaq and preventing her from leaving the house.
The children managed to escape and ran to their grandmother’s home, leaving no witnesses to what occurred from that point on.
Anaittuq turned up at the grandmother’s at about 1 a.m., intoxicated, agitated and shouting at his children. The grandmother called police, who arrested Anaittuq and charged him with mischief.
Officers attempted to check on Ihakkaq but the doors were locked, and since there was no response to their knocking they left without seeing her.
After the police left, the 11-year-old son returned to the home, entered through a window and found Ihakkaq lying bloody and not breathing. When police returned, they found Ihhakaq dead on a mattress in the living room.
RCMP charged Anaittuq with murder in relation to the death. His defence lawyers later requested that charge be reduced to manslaughter, which resulted in the guilty plea.
An autopsy revealed Ihhakaq had been beaten severely, suffering bruising to her face, head, torso and limbs, but that the cause of death was blood loss due to injuries sustained during a violent sexual assault.
Anaittuq claimed to be too drunk to remember what happened. He’d been convicted in 2009 and again in 2018 for assaults against Ihakkaq, and had been placed on probation.
Conditions of his probation prohibited Anaittuq from being in the family home when intoxicated, and did not allow direct contact with Ihakkaq.
In handing down his sentence, Martin sided with the Crown’s request for a 15-year sentence rather than the 10 to 11-year term sought by defence lawyers.
He cited several factors in choosing the harsher sentence, including the brutality and manner of the killing, the fact Anaittuq did not make any attempt to seek help for Ihakkaq, and his previous convictions.
“If he had simply followed the court orders, [Ihakkaq] would still be alive,” wrote Martin.
Defence lawyers argued Annaittuq’s guilty plea spared some of his children from having to testify at a trial.
Martin wrote that this should be balanced against a consideration of the presence of the children in the home on the night of the attack.
“Nothing in this summary of her death describes the sheer terror and horror Ms. Ihakkaq would have experienced in her death at the hands of her husband,” Martin wrote. “Nor of the impact upon the children of witnessing the violence.”
Martin added, “Women must know they have support and the justice system will step up to protect them and ensure safety in the community.”
Anaittuq will get credit for the four years and five months he spent in custody since his arrest, and will spend an additional 10 years and seven months in prison.
Clarification: The headline of this story has been updated to correctly reflect what Nathaniel Anaittuq pleaded guilty to.
Due to the isolation of the communities and the lack of adequate family services & shelters, far too many women in Nunavut are stuck with abusive men. The only solution to this is to crack down on domestic and sexual abusers with very long & tough sentences.
I agree, abuse against Inuit women is so high and normalized. Enough is enough. Nunavummiut need to let their officials know the claude principal won’t work on constant abusive men. Every community in Nunavut has them and unfortunately, they keep coming out of prison, to the point where these women are murdered.
Where’s the protection of these women and children? ( who are the future). Courts need to do better, not only view the mens history but, view how it’ll effect the women and kids in the future when the abuse continues.
Taima.
Does anyone who is actually a member of the Nunavut Court of Justice hear tough cases that make major impacts anymore or the $300,000 a year job now relegated to domestic assaults and civil chambers? It is pretty bad they need to fly in deputy judges for murder trials.
“Does anyone who is actually a member of the Nunavut Court of Justice hear tough cases that make major impacts anymore…”
One did on Tuesday, remember?
“the cause of death was blood loss due to injuries sustained during a violent sexual assault.”
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15 years is not enough.
He ain’t gonna last long inside. He won’t be very popular. Unless, they put him to protective custody.
RCMP need to do a better job stopping Alcohol from getting into these dry communities. There would be no alcohol in any dry communities if they were enforcing the laws and checking bags and mail for illegal booze
Alcohol is not the factor in this case. People want to blame alcohol because he was to intoxicated to remember. What the real problem that is being swept underneath the carpet is the daily social issues and trauma that the person is trying to cover up by drinking liquor. Traumatic experiences and not dealing with these traumatic experience do cause resentment, anger and hate issues. When a person is so intoxicated, the brain is being poisoned by the percentage of alcohol being consumed. With the content of alcohol, people who abuse it, the rage they feel when an arguement erupts turns chaotic. Once again, the only person to blame in this case is the murderer himself. Most people in a culture know when to stop drinking liquor when they know they are getting drunk. Other people in other cultures drink to consume liquor until the liquor is gone. The person or persons can be seen being drunk from the early morning hours to the early morning hours in the night time. Once they are confronted about their actions during the night, they are embarrassed because they cannot remember (blackout) what they did the previous night. When this is the case, it is NORMALIZED to believe a person can drink 16 – 18 hours a day and begin drinking again the morning or night time they wake up from their Hangover.
So Sad for the children. They will be the next generation of violent offenders if they are not given the professional help they need immediately. Condolences to the Families and Friends.
What do you want the RCMP to do specifically without violating the constitution?
Without a formal complaint, they cannot just search bags.
So it comes down to being YOUR fault booze is getting into the community. If you are aware of it call the RCMP.
Alcohol is often used by the Courts to reduce a murder charge to a manslaughter charge. This guy would have been charged with murder if he wasnt so drunk and probably got a life sentence. So, because of alcohol getting into Gjoa haven, only manslaughter charge. Sad
Reason why there is no help, shelters, and the abuse continues for years until the spouse is finally killed. Indigenous lives are not worthy under the Canadian system, even lower than animal rights..
Abusing alcohol and being abused from whom ever in their lives. Should not always be used as a excuse to commit violent crimes.
Women abuse alcohol and have been abused usually by men. Buts it’s the men who do commit the largest amount of violent crime in Nunavut. Does that tell us that the Inuit men are less tolerent to alcohol. The abuse that was perpertaded upon them was more damaging.
Or is it because the cultrure of domestic abuse and child abuse. Has been overlooked by the long history of the Inuit people. Never punishing or shunning th abusers. But continuing to accept this type of behaviour. For so long that it has become part the cellular make up of the male. Other societys particulairly in the middle east and certian religions. Will not punish for these crimes either. But this does not make it any less acceptable.
Not only women get abuse, even men get abuse too . LOOK AROUND