Jury ponders sexual assault verdict

KIRSTEN MURPHY

A man accused of sexually assaulting an Iqaluit woman and then offering to pay her for the encounter faced his victim in court this week.

The fate of Leo Keyookta, 31, who stood trial on one count of sexual assault, was in the hands of a 12-person jury by the time Nunatsiaq News was printed this week.

By Oct. 9, witnesses had finished giving their evidence. Crown and defence lawyers were to have made their final submissions on Oct. 10. After that, the judge would have issued his instructions to the jury before they retired to consider their verdict.

Two very different versions of the Feb. 22, 2002, incident emerged after two days of testimony.

Crown lawyer Christine Gagnon said Keyookta, 31, followed the 20-year-old woman into her apartment and forced himself on the complainant on her bathroom floor.

Defence lawyer Michael Chandler said the woman never told Keyookta to leave the residence, and that she consented to have sexual intercourse with Keyookta.

During her testimony, the soft-spoken complainant described seeing, but not speaking to Keyookta, while using the phone in a friend’s apartment at 10:30 p.m. on Feb. 22.

When the complainant finished using the phone, she left the apartment. Keyookta followed her down the hallway, she testified.
“When I realized I was not alone, I became concerned, frightened,” she said.

She said Keyookta slipped into the women’s apartment with her and wanted to know when her spouse would return home. Keyookta then offered her $130 to have sex with him, she said.

“I told him no. I was not for sale for sex,” the complainant testified.

The woman said Keyookta then grabbed her and brought her into the bathroom.

Keyookta removed a condom from his pocket and instructed her to place it on his penis, she said. When she refused, Keyookta put on the condom himself, she testified.

He placed two towels on the bathroom floor, pushed her onto her back, and pried her knees apart, she said. He then had sexual intercourse with her and offered her the money again, she testified

“I told him I’m not a $130 ho [whore],” she said.

During the incident, people knocked on her door several times. But Keyookta refused to let her answer the door and ordered her to keep quiet, she said.

For his part, Keyookta testified that the complainant invited him into the apartment. He said having sex was her idea.

“She said I can touch her…. I tried to get off [of her] but she wouldn’t let me get off so I decided to just finish sex,” Keyookta said.
Under cross-examination from the Crown, Keyookta maintained that the woman pursued him and that she grew upset when he refused to pay her for her services.

Keyookta said he left the apartment after a brief scuffle.

The woman then returned to the neighbour who had let her use his phone 30 minutes earlier. But the neighbour refused to help, she said.

“I told him I’d been sexually assaulted and he shut the door,” she said.

Chandler’s cross-examination of the complainant lasted a full day and included a videotape of the victim’s police statement.

When police arrested Keyookta on Feb. 22, he became agitated and threatened to shoot Const. Wilfred Jephson in the forehead, the court heard. He faces one count of uttering a threat.

Keyookta, who is in custody, sat expressionless for most of the trial.