KUGAARUK/PELLY BAY
The Nunavut Court of Appeal is taking another look at the life sentence handed to a Kugaaruk man who brutally beat and stabbed his spouse to death in 2008.

Bruce Kayaitok, 39, killed Belina Tootiak in June 2008, stabbing her twice with a broken mop handle. He was convicted of second-degree murder in 2013 and sentenced the following year. The appeal hearing took place Feb. 14.

Kayaitok is required to serve at least 15 years of his life sentence before being eligible for parole. At the time, the decision marked one of the longest sentences in Nunavut history. He is appealing the sentence in hopes of being convicted on a reduced charge of manslaughter instead.

"He said he killed her and yes he should go to jail for a long time but that he didn't intend to kill her, he intended to just beat her up," said defence lawyer James Morton, noting this rationale is nonetheless still grave.

"If we were successful in reducing the charge to manslaughter, he would likely get something in the range of 10 to 15 years," he said.

"One of the other things we have suggested was that even if he is still guilty of murder that he should be allowed to at least seek to be released after 12 years instead of 15 years."

For sentencing to be reduced, the defence will have to prove Nunavut Supreme Court judge Earl Johnson erred in reviewing evidence used to convict Kayaitok of murder, said Morton.

Morton said in deciding between murder and manslaughter the judge should not have considered certain events before and after Tootiak's death. One was the argument the couple had before Kayaitok killed her; another was the time he spent cleaning up blood and hiding the murder weapon before taking her body to the health centre.

"We say that even if he was guilty of manslaughter he might have cleaned up the house anyway," said Morton.

"We also say that the fact that they were fighting before she died really doesn't make any difference to what he intended to do."

Kayaitok has numerous convictions on his criminal record for assaulting his spouse. He had been advised to seek treatment for drug and alcohol addiction and past trauma, including sexual abuse during childhood, but had failed to do so.

At the time of his sentencing, Nunavut News/North reported the judge saying his decision was influenced by Kayaitok's repeated history of violence against his wife, along with the gruesome nature of the crime.

"Mr. Kayaitok was sober when he stabbed (the victim)," said Johnson, according to a transcript from court proceedings March 25, 2014, in Kugaaruk.

"In the reasons for the conviction, I found that he was fully aware of what he was doing when he stabbed her twice with a broken mop handle and then continued to beat her with it as she fled to the living room with her femoral artery severed. She bled to death within minutes."

Johnson wrote that he chose to focus on a sentence of deterrence rather than restorative justice because of the heinous nature of the crime.

"The imposition of a longer period of parole ineligibility is one way that this court can express its disapproval of the epidemic of spousal violence in this territory," Johnson stated.

Morton said he believes Kayaitok to be in either B.C. or Alberta, although he hadn't spoken with him in at least a week. "When I last spoke to him, he was in B.C."

There is no expected date for an appeals court ruling although Morton said, in his experience, these cases take a couple of months.

Crown prosecutor Martin Tooke is confident the murder conviction will stand.

"The Crown argued that no errors were made and there shouldn't be any change to the orders," said Tooke.

Morton said his client's appeal was submitted shortly after sentencing but it was delayed when required evidence was not available for review, as some documents were lost or misfiled following trial.

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