A 45-year-old man from Pangnirtung with a lengthy history of violent crimes was literally frothing at the mouth, resisting vigorously, yelling, and screaming obscenities during his sentencing hearing in February.
Yet he will not be deemed a dangerous offender, much to the chagrin of the judge.
A three-part ruling in the Timothy Komoartok court case was delivered on Feb. 12 in the Nunavut Court of Justice after a joint submission by both the Crown prosecutor and defence.
Presiding judge Paul Bychok, who expressed his preference for dangerous offender status, said his “hands are tied” and only reluctantly accepted the recommendation from the lawyers, which he called “too lenient in all the circumstances...”
As per the terms of the joint submission, Komoartok will serve a two-year prison sentence accounting for time already served in jail (1,667 days), to be followed by five years of supervision after release. In addition, the Crown is pursuing a declaration of Komoartok as a long-term offender.
A long-term offender is eligible for parole after two years behind bars whereas a dangerous offender cannot be granted parole for at least seven years.
Komoartok is responsible for a lengthy list of violent offences dating back to 1998, including repeated sexual assaults. The February judgement also detailed that the offender had met the criteria for “moderately high-score” on the psychopathy scale after being evaluated by a forensic psychiatrist, who provided “a detailed and current psychiatric snapshot of the risk that Mr. Komoartok will reoffend violently.” The same testing also placed him at an 80 per cent chance of sexual recidivism. In general, the defendant is 95 per cent likely to reoffend, the expert found.
“In my view, the joint submission [between the prosecution and defence] fails to account for Mr. Komoartok’s inability or unwillingness for well over a decade to rehabilitate,” Bychok stated.
“Komoartok is a functionally untreated repeat violent offender, and there is every substantial likelihood that he will reoffend,” the judge added. “Furthermore, there is no evidence that Mr. Komoartok may be supervised adequately in the community. I expressed those concerns to counsel during the hearing. Crown counsel replied saying that the decision to seek a long-term offender designation had been taken after discussions involving the attorney general.”
Subsequently, Bychok imposed a jail sentence of a remaining 451.5 days after accounting for time Komoartok has already served in custody, according to the agreement. The defendant’s criminal record also includes a long history of violence in custody against both police and guards. However, if labelled a long-term offender, Komoartok will be subject to an “indeterminate” custodial sentence. It was not indicated how long a ruling on the long-term offender status might take, and if it might overlap with the defendant’s release. Komoartok has already been given mandatory DNA and firearm prohibition orders.
“He ought to be declared to be a dangerous offender subject to indeterminate incarceration. Nevertheless, my hands are tied. The law says that I must implement the joint recommendation despite my grave concerns,” Bychok stated, making it clear how much he disagreed with the sentence. “He is a ticking time bomb with a short fuse.”