Nunavut ADM pleads guilty in struggle over phone

IQALUIT — Victor Tootoo pled guilty last week to struggling for a telephone with his girlfriend, Sandra Kilabuk.

“It was a very technical, very minimal assault. And it was of course preceeded by a very clear assault by the complainant on him. Which is extremely provoking and mitigating upon sentence,” said Tootoo’s lawyer, Sue Cooper.

According to the agreed facts read out in court, Kilabuk came home late at night intoxicated, after which the pair got into an argument. Tootoo went to get a telephone and Kilabuk started throwing things at him, said Cooper.

Three or four objects hit Tootoo, one of them a cup that broke, Cooper said. Kilabuk also hit him with a candle holder and then proceeded to punch him and kick him, she said.

“He told her several times to stop and she wouldn’t. At one point he even said, ‘Are you finished yet?’ and she said, ‘No I’ve just begun,’ and continued hitting him again,” Cooper said.

Tootoo left the bedroom where the altercation happened, and Kilabuk locked the door behind him.

“My client then forced the door open and the complainant had the telephone and he went to grab it from her and there was a struggle over the telephone. So the guilty plea was based on the fact that he sort of initiated the struggle over the telephone when there had been sort of a break in the action,” said Cooper.

Tootoo, who has no prior record, was given a six-month conditional discharge. If he meets conditions set by the court for that six-month period, he will have no criminal record.

The charge was laid in June of 1999. Tootoo is Nunavut’s assistant deputy minister of finance.