Nunavut man found guilty of sexual assault, break and enter
Incident occurred in Iqaluit on Sept. 9, 2020; man handed 7-year sentence
Arviat man Peter Adjuk is going to prison for two and half years after Justice Paul Bychok handed down his sentence this week. Adjuk, was convicted earlier this year of sexual assault and criminal harassment that occurred in October 2022. (File photo)
Timothy Aipeelee was found guilty of sexual assault as well as break and entering an Iqaluit home, according to a decision released by the Nunavut Court of Justice May 16.
He was sentenced to seven years in a federal penitentiary.
Aipeelee, who grew up in Kinngait, was charged with breaking into the home of a 45-year-old Inuk woman and putting his hands underneath her pyjamas and close to her vagina while she was sleeping.
The incident occurred Sept. 9, 2020, and the trial was held this year on Jan. 9 before Justice Paul Bychok.
Bychok said he did not find Aipeelee’s testimony in the trial believable.
Aipeelee testified that he entered the woman’s home because he thought it was a friend’s and he was going to that friend to ask for cab fare.
Aipeelee also testified that he put his hand under the woman’s pyjamas to see if she was sleeping.
The woman, whose identity cannot be published under a court order, testified that when she woke up to Aipeelee touching her, she tackled him almost immediately. Bychok noted he found her testimony credible.
When it came to sentencing, Bychok cited a 2020 report by Pauktuutit Inuit Women of Canada that said gendered violence against Inuit women was 13 times greater than the national average.
The judge also noted Aipeelee was a victim of notorious Nunavut sex offender Edward Horne when he was a child and had suffered various other forms of abuse when he was young, dropping out of school at age 14. He has struggled with alcohol addiction since.
Aipeelee also has an extensive criminal record dating back to youth court in 1985, Bychok noted, including 14 prior convictions for break and enter as well as 32 prior convictions for crimes of violence.
After giving Aipeelee credit for time he spent in in jail before his trial, there were 1,507 days — a little more than four years — remaining in Aipeelee’s seven-year sentence, which will be served in a federal penitentiary in the south.
While Bychok said it would be ideal to have Aipeelee serve his sentence in Nunavut, that is beyond the power of Nunavut’s court, he said.
I don’t get it… This is the same judge who slammed lawyers for trying to pass a deal for 120 days and he gave that defendant 2 yrs less a day to keep him here for a similar offense. Now this defendant gets 7 years which is great but why the difference?
Each case is unique. The offender in the other case pled guilty. This offender did not plead guilty and the victim had to testify in court which can be very traumatic. The severity of the sexual assault here was higher. This offender also has a much more serious criminal record.