Jury finds man guilty of sexual assault

KIRSTEN MURPHY

A seven-woman, five-man Iqaluit jury found Leo Keyookta guilty of raping a 20-year-old woman in the bathroom of her apartment.

When the victim heard the verdict, a fleeting smile crossed her face.

Her boyfriend stared at Keyookta, 31, while one hand steadied his quivering jaw and the other hand reassured the woman, whose name cannot be published or broadcast.

“I’m pleased,” Crown lawyer Christine Gagnon said after the trial.

The complainant declined to comment until after sentencing.

During the trial, the woman said Keyookta followed her down a hallway into her apartment. She said he offered to pay her $130 for sex, but she refused. Keyookta persisted and forced her into the bathroom. He told her to put a condom on his penis but she wouldn’t do it, she told the court.

When they heard a knock at the door, Keyookta raised a fist and warned her to remain silent.

Gagnon said the unanswered door was evidence of the intimidation used in the attack.

But defence lawyer Michael Chandler said the unanswered door was evidence the woman was a willing sexual participant who made a false complaint to police to prevent her boyfriend from finding out she had cheated on him.

From the trial’s outset, both lawyers conceded that a sexual encounter occurred between the slender, waif-like woman and the short but sturdy man.

While under oath, Keyookta denied offering money or initiating sex. He said intercourse was quick because he didn’t want to get caught. He admitted hitting the woman but said he did so because she was demanding payment.

“She asked for sex … and she got angry when I refused to give her money so I slapped her,” he said.

After leaving the apartment, Keyookta bought two grams of marijuana and swallowed a handful of prescription pills. An overdose caused by the pills landed him at Baffin Regional Hospital, where police advised him he was under arrest for sexual assault.

Keyookta resisted arrest and threatened to shoot a police officer in the head. The death threat was caused by the stress of what he called the woman’s false accusation.

But he was also found guilty of one count of uttering a threat.

Keyootka’s criminal record, which includes convictions for theft, fraud and

break-and-enter, was admitted as evidence.

Justice Robert Kilpatrick said Keyookta’s criminal record was not an indication of Keyookta’s guilt, but was admitted as evidence to help jurors decide on the accused’s credibility as a witness.

In his list of instructions to the jury, Kilpatrick said when sexual assault victims don’t cry out or resist an attack, it doesn’t necessarily mean they are consenting to sex.

Chandler objected to those instructions, saying that the judge offered no counter-theory.

“It’s also common sense that a person might [not react] because they’re lying,” Chandler said.

But Kilpatrick dismissed that objection on the grounds that his instructions came from a decison by the Supreme Court of Canada.

The bespectacled Keyookta sat patiently and listened closely to the proceedings. He appeared expressionless when the jury delivered its guilty verdict.

Sentencing was set for Oct. 17.