Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Rankin Inlet (Sep 24/01) - A plea bargain in a murder trial scheduled to get begin last week has resulted in a Coral Harbour man receiving seven years in a federal penitentiary.

Louie Evaloakjuk, 28, was to have stood trial on a charge of second-degree murder for the stabbing death of his brother, Pierre Evalouajuk, during the early morning hours of Feb. 25, 2000, in Rankin Inlet.

Instead, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter, avoiding a trial and a possibly longer sentence that would have come with a guilty verdict.

Evaloakjuk was charged with first-degree murder at the time of the crime, a charge later reduced to second-degree murder in an Iqaluit courthouse.

Pierre Evalouajuk died just two days before his 41st birthday as a result of a 10-centimetre gash across his throat.

The victim was also originally from Coral Harbour.

In addressing the court during the sentencing hearing, Justice Beverley Browne of the Nunavut Court of Justice said she took into account of the extreme violence of the crime and what she described as Evaloakjuk's intellectual deficit.

The full sentence resulting from the plea bargain was 10 years, but three years were taken off for the 18 months Evaloakjuk has already served while awaiting trial.

Sgt. Thomas Kasdorf of the Rankin Inlet RCMP, said the court's decision came as no great surprise to the detachment.

He said the RCMP's job is to find and arrest crime suspects -- it's up to the courts to take care of punishment.

"Our guys did their job and did it well and the rest is up to the courts," said Kasdorf.

"We see the Crown and defence making deals all the time. Who knows? They may be privvy to a bigger picture than we are? We take it in stride and can't really comment on the bigger picture because they're the ones doing their end of the job," he said.