Kinngait men’s attempted-murder trial continues in Iqaluit
Brothers Archie and Laimiki Toonoo charged in 2021 incident involving female who suffered serious injuries
Kinngait’s RCMP detachment, seen in this file photo, is where police say a seriously injured female was discovered shortly after midnight on Oct. 7, 2021. The trial of two men charged with attempted murder in Kinngait is set to resume in Iqaluit this week. (File photo by David Venn)
The trial of two brothers accused of attempted murder in Kinngait more than three years ago is continuing in Iqaluit this week after a nearly year-long delay.
Archie and Laimiki Toonoo were charged following an Oct. 7, 2021, incident involving a female who suffered serious injuries, Nunavut RCMP said in a news release Oct. 9, 2021. The police news release said she was discovered near the RCMP’s Kinngait detachment shortly after midnight on Oct. 7. The woman was medevaced from Kinngait to Iqaluit for medical care, police said.
The pair’s trial began Feb. 26, 2024, in Kinngait but was adjourned two days later, according to the Nunavut court’s concluded docket.
Last October, a voir dire proceeding was held to determine whether a witness’s statement to police should be admissible as evidence.
In court in Iqaluit Monday, Justice Christian Lyons ruled it is admissible.
That witness was due to testify Monday as the Crown’s final witness in the case, said Crown prosecutor Abel Dion. However, the woman did not check in for her flight to Iqaluit on Sunday.
Court staff were able to connect with her by phone at the Kinngait RCMP detachment.
“We need you here,” Lyons told her.
Dion discussed possibly bringing her to Iqaluit either on an RCMP plane or on a scheduled Tuesday afternoon Canadian North flight.
The trial was adjourned to Tuesday morning.
The two accused brothers were not present in the courtroom Monday. They only briefly appeared in court by videoconference from the Aaqqigiarvik Correctional Healing Facility, where they have been held in custody.
Are you suggesting the accused are doing the whole trial by video from jail? That seems really unlikely. The story is just saying that they weren’t brought from the jail to court on Monday, which makes sense given that the parties knew in advance that no one was going to be there to testify — if they had been driven over there, the vehicle would have had to just turn around and take them back.
How do you expect to get a conviction without victim/witness testimony?
You’re concerned that them being held in jail and made to appear from there is too “convenient”, and they should be required to fly freely around the territory like the witness?