Seven-year sentence for sexual assault in Iqaluit

An Apex member has been sentenced to seven years in prison after breaking into a woman’s home in Iqaluit and sexually assaulting her while she slept.

The 45-year-old victim had testified that when she woke up in the early hours of September 9, 2020, to find Timothy Aipeelee – a complete stranger to her – touching her under her pajamas and panties, she attacked and beat him, leaving the accused with a broken collarbone and scratches on his face. She kept Aipeelee quiet for twenty minutes while she waited for the police to arrive.

Her son-in-law also took part in the beating, but the victim stated that she was responsible for the perpetrator’s broken collarbone.

Aipeelee testified that on the night he sexually assaulted the plaintiff, he wanted to visit his nephew and went to the victim’s apartment because he thought his cousin also lived there and might want to accompany him. The victim stated that he did not know Aipeelee or his cousin.

Although initially opted for a jury trial, Aipeelee’s case was finally heard on January 9 by Chief Judge P. Bychok of the Nunavut Court of Justice.

Bychok noted in his ruling that he would place a focus on denunciation and deterrence in sentencing to prevent similar future crimes against Indigenous victims because “Mr. Aipeelee’s victim was an Inuit woman living in our isolated community.” He noted that Aipeelee had a long criminal history dating back to his youth. His age was not mentioned in the ruling, but it is noted that Aipeelee was taught in Kinngait by notorious sex offender Ed Horne. The offender dropped out of school at age 14.

The defendant’s record dates back to juvenile court in 1985 and includes 14 prior convictions for burglary, 32 prior convictions for violent crimes, including one sex offense, one aggravated assault, 15 convictions for assault, three convictions for battery and 12 convictions for assault with a weapon. Aipeelee has also accumulated 21 convictions for violating court-imposed bail and probation conditions, including one violation of a suspended sentence.

“This court has no crystal ball,” Judge Bychok wrote in his ruling, released last week. “But Mr. Aipeelee’s proven history of violating court orders, combined with the lack of evidence that he has benefited from intensive counseling, leaves him, in my view, a continuing danger to the community. The sentence I impose must therefore emphasize denunciation and targeted deterrence in a meaningful and realistic way.”

“The sentence I impose on Mr. Aipeelee must reflect the reality that sexual violence against Inuit girls and women in Nunavut is indeed ‘a problem of enormous proportions.’ The court records in each of our 25 communities are replete with cases of sexual and physical violence against Inuit women and girls.”

The incident in question

Aipeelee stated that he was looking for his cousin because he needed taxi money for Apex. He claimed that he was only trying to pick the plaintiff’s pockets when he entered her apartment through an unlocked door and then her bedroom.

Judge Bychok stated in his ruling that he was “convinced that Mr. Aipeelee knew what he was doing that evening and early that morning.” He did not accept Aipeelee’s claim that he had previously met the victim in the apartment where she had lived for 14 years.

“In summary, I do not believe Mr. Aipeelee’s version of events, nor do his statements raise any reasonable doubt in my eyes. I now examine the remaining evidence to see whether the prosecution has proved its case against Mr. Aipeelee beyond a reasonable doubt.”

Aipeelee has already spent 792 days in custody, meaning he has just over four years of his sentence left, which he will serve in a penitentiary.

The perpetrator must also undergo DNA analysis and remain registered on a sex offenders’ register for life. He is also prohibited from owning firearms and from contacting the victim for life.

Kira Wronska Dorward, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Nunavut News