.
Search
Email this articleE-mail this story  Discuss this articleWrite letter to editor  Discuss this articleOrder a classified ad

Convicted sex offender faces 11 new charges

Kathleen Lippa
Northern News Services

Iqaluit (Feb 07/05) - One of the North's most notorious sex offenders was back in a Nunavut courtroom last week, facing 11 new charges. The charges relate to events which RCMP say occurred in Cape Dorset and Sanikiluaq between 1978 and 1983.

Horne, who was on parole and working in Toronto at the time of the arrest, has been convicted of more than a dozen sexual assault charges against young boys twice before.

In 1987, he was sent to six years in prison. He was released in 1993. In 2000, he was sentenced to another five years. He was granted day parole in October 2002.

The new charges, under the 1978 criminal code, include buggery, indecent assault and gross indecency.

Horne, 61, emerged from an Iqaluit RCMP police cruiser outside the Nunavut court house in handcuffs on Feb. 1.

With his head bowed, slouching and wearing jeans and a beige jacket, he made a brief appearance in court. Horne did not have a lawyer and was seeking legal aid.

Like a number of people who came to the courtroom, one woman said she wanted to see what Horne looked like, expecting to see a "monster." Afterwards the woman seemed stunned to see what she described as a "pathetic old man."

Horne was a teacher and principal in Sanikiluaq, Cape Dorset, Grise Fiord, Iqaluit and Kimmirut in the 1970s and 1980s. In 2002, 82 of his victims agreed to a $21 million out-of-court settlement against the NWT and Nunavut governments.

Horne was released from custody Feb. 4.

His first court appearance in Iqaluit at the Nunavut Court of Justice will be April 4.