Nunavut judge throws out JP’s conditional discharge sentence

A Nunavut man who beat his domestic partner twice should not have received a conditional discharge from a justice of the peace, Justice Susan Charlesworth ruled in a written judgment issued last week.

In Nunavut’s justice system, decisions by JPs can be appealed to judges who sit on the Nunavut Court of Justice.

In this case, a JP had imposed a sentence on Simon Kullualik, now aged 27, that that Crown said was too light and not in the public interest.

So they went to Charlesworth to appeal that decision and Charlesworth agreed with them.

“Failure to fully consider the public interest led to a sentence that did not address the issues of the prevalence of domestic assault and the vulnerability of victims. This was an error, and the sentence is set aside,” she said in her judgment.

Kullualik committed his first assault on Oct. 19, 2017, Charlesworth’s judgment said.

In that incident, his sister had opened a door to find him on top of his girlfriend.

“The victim was visibly shaken and said Mr. Kullualik had become upset with her, held her down with his forearm and punched her. She was very scared and said this had not happened to her before,” Charlesworth’s judgment said.

Also, he failed to show up for a scheduled court appearance on Dec. 7, 2017.

The second assault charge occurred on June 20, 2018, on the same victim, when she was nine months pregnant.

That occurred at a room in the Frobisher Inn—she had gone there because Kullualik was intoxicated and was “being rough with her,” Charlesworth said.

The next day, she let him into the room, because he appeared to be sober.

But he attacked her again.

“He was pushing her around, grabbed her by the hair as she tried to leave, and then punched her in the back of the head several times. A room-cleaner intervened to stop the assault,” the judgment said.

She was an extremely vulnerable victim, and this was acknowledged as an aggravating factor in the defence submissions.

The victim gave birth only about two weeks later, on July 1, 2018.

After Kullualik pleaded guilty to the charges, on Aug. 16, 2018, the JP handed down a conditional discharge with two years of probation on each offence, to be served concurrently.

A conditional discharge means the accused person will not get a criminal record if they serve out the probation.

But the Crown had sought a conditional sentence instead, with 12 months of probation.

Under a conditional sentence, the offender serves a form of house arrest, and can be sent to jail if they breach the conditional sentence order.

After listening to the Crown’s appeal, Charlesworth decided that a conditional discharge for a crime of domestic violence is not in the public interest.

So instead she imposed a suspended sentence with two years of probation.

“While the conditional discharge cannot stand, a suspended sentence with two years of probation on the terms imposed by the justice of the peace, on each charge, concurrent is appropriate,” Charlesworth wrote.

R v Kullualik, 2020 NUCJ 6 by NunatsiaqNews on Scribd