Pangnirtung man fights dangerous offender label

IQALUIT — A 33-year old Pangnirtung man may be facing an indefinite jail sentence for two 1997 sexual assaults he was convicted of in 1998.

Tommy Veevee was in territorial court in Iqaluit this week for a hearing to determine whether he would be sentenced as a dangerous offender — a designation that could put him in jail for the rest of his life.

The two 1997 incidents were committed against minors and were among three sexual assaults he committed that year. Veevee was sentenced to five years in jail for the other 1997 assault.

Crown prosecutors made a special application for the judge to sentence him as a dangerous offender on the two other convictions. If Veevee, who has five other sexual assault convictions, is sentenced as a dangerous offender, he will be incarcerated for an indeterminate length of time.

“It would then be the responsibility of Corrections Canada and the parole board to review his incarceration,” said Debra Robinson, one of the Crown prosecutors handling the case.