Kuujjuaq man gets 12 years in shooting death

This week, Quebec superior court judge Donald Bissonnette sentenced Elijah Snowball, 20, to 12 years in jail for the death of Aloupa Watt, 27, which occurred in August, 2002.

Snowball, who has been incarcerated since that time, will serve an additional eight years and six months in jail for manslaughter.

Snowball, accused initially of first-degree murder, had previously pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter.

Watt, the son of Minnie Grey and Willie Watt, died at Montreal General Hospital after receiving a gunshot wound to the head.

Alcohol had apparently fueled the violence, which witnesses said started after a trivial argument over a cigarette.

At the time of this incident, Snowball had been released from custody into Kuujjuaq, subject to certain conditions, after being charged in another violent encounter.

In May 2002, the brother of one of two male victims allegedly shot both of them with a Remington 12-gauge rifle, leaving 10 shots in the stomach of one victim and a single shot in the other’s head.