.

Home page

Text size

E-mail this page

IQALUIT - A Pangnirtung man convicted of a brutal sexual assault has been handed the longest sentence ever in Nunavut for a crime where the victim did not die.

Tommy Nuvaqiq has been sentenced to 18 years in a federal prison for the attack on then-31-year-old woman in the community in 2005.

Nuvaqiq will receive partial credit for the more than three years he spent in custody while awaiting trial and during the trial, meaning he has 13 years left to serve.

Crown prosecutor John Solski asked for a sentence of at least 17 years due to the brutality of the attack. Defence counsel asked for four to seven years.

Judge Beverley Browne took the unusual step of stipulating that Nuvaqiq not become eligible for parole until at least half his sentence is complete.

Nuvaqiq will be banned for life from possessing a firearm and his name will be permanently listed on Canada's national sex offender registry.