July 14, 2000
VALERIE G. CONNELL
Nunatsiaq News
IQALUIT — Two Iqaluit men, Mickey Kootoo and Richard Caza, were sentenced June 30 to lengthy jail terms after having been convicted of sexual assault charges.
Richard Caza, 32, was sentenced to 42 months in prison with a 10-year order prohibiting him from possessing fire-arms.
Caza had been found guilty of forcing a 14-year-old girl to have sex with him. The girl became pregnant as a result of the assault and had to undergo a therapeutic abortion.
"I see that as a fairly aggravating factor," Justice Robert Kilpatrick had said earlier, noting that the victim would have to live with the fear of possibly contracting HIV unless Caza were tested.
Kilpatrick also recommended that Caza be monitored for suicidal tendencies, "which may decrease privacy." Defence layer Ewan MacKay, had said in his sentencing submission that Caza may have suicidal tendencies.
No remorse
In sentencing Caza, Kilpatrick said a jail sentence is entirely necessary, since Caza has accepted no responsibility for his actions, showed a lack of insight into his behaviour, and showed no remorse.
"An apology was not extended," Kilpatrick said. "The victim needed to hear that so she could heal."
MacKay had asked for a conditional sentence for Caza. Under conditional sentences, convicted persons are allowed to go free, as long as they agree to abide by rule set out in a court order. If they violate the court order, they can be brought back to court and sentenced to jail time.
But Kilpatrick said that in every previous court case cited by MacKay in support of his request for a conditional sentence, a guilty plea had been entered, the defendants were engaged in healing, and they had made contact with alternative justice or elder sentencing procedures.
"[That is] not the case here," Kilpatrick said.
In a victim’s impact statement, Caza’s victim said she wanted the ordeal of the trial, which has dragged on since 1998, to be finished.
Attack on widow
For his part, Mickey Kootoo, 31, was sentenced to 38 months in prison on each of two charges: one count of sexual assault, and one count of entering a house with intent to commit an indictable offence.
The sentences are to be served concurrently — at the same time. Kootoo had entered guilty pleas on each charge.
According to an agreed statement of facts, Kootoo unlawfully entered the home of a 59-year-old widow, chased her around her house and punched, shoved and threatened the woman.
In passing sentence, Kilpatrick noted that Kootoo carried out the attack by physically disabling the woman twice and using violence resulting in bodily injury before attempting to sexually assault her.
The attack was interrupted by the arrival of the woman’s nephew, who called the police.
Kilpatrick also imposed a 10-year fire-arm prohibition on Kootoo, instructing him to surrender any firearms he owns to the RCMP.
Breach of court order
Kootoo was also sentenced to serve an additional 60 days in prison after he pleaded guilty to two charges of breaching an undertaking he signed June 14, 1999.
The four conditions of the undertaking were that Kootoo agree to not consume alcohol, maintain a curfew from 10 p.m. to 7:30 a.m. daily, not enter any licensed establishment, and stay away from the complainant.
Kootoo pleaded guilty to entering a licensed establishment and breaking the curfew when the undertaking was in force.
"[Kootoo] is not a good candidate for conditional sentencing," said Crown prosecutor Judy Chan.
Mackay had also requested a conditional sentence for Kootoo.
But Kilpatrick rejected the defense arguments for a lighter sentence, saying Kootoo’s actions were "high-end seriousness" that Kootoo had "threatened and carried through with an elder."
Kilpatrick also said Kootoo had no history of contact with justice groups or elders panel, and that he made no contact with the psychiatric facilities at the Baffin Regional Hospital.
Kilpatrick, however, commended Kootoo for pleading guilty, thus keeping the complainant from having to testify in court.
Kilpatrick recommended that Kootoo and Caza serve their sentences at the Baffin Correctional Centre in Iqaluit.
Fnal decisions on where convicted offenders serve their time, however, are made by corrections officials.