Miss-Delectable
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2004
- Messages
- 17,160
- Reaction score
- 7
Nunavut man sentenced to two years for tampering with corpse in graveyard - Winnipeg Free Press
A Nunavut man who admitted he indecently interfered with human remains in a graveyard has been sentenced to two years in jail.
Bobby Suwarak of Baker Lake was arrested last fall after graves were dug up in the remote Arctic community. He was charged after DNA tests on bodily fluids found at the site. An RCMP spokesman at the time said the charges involved sexual activity.
Suwarak will also be on probation for three years after he is released and will have to stay at least 50 metres away from all graveyards.
Justice Sue Cooper said in her decision that Suwarak violated social taboos found in all cultures.
Suwarak has been convicted twice before for sexual assault.
He has been deaf since birth and his first conviction in the 1990s spurred the development of Inuktitut sign language now used in Nunavut's courts.
The coffins were opened at the Baker Lake cemetery in June — during the near-24-hour daylight of the Arctic summer — and the contents disturbed.
Officers from the major crimes unit in Iqaluit assisted the three-member local detachment in the investigation.
The grave tampering was a common subject of conversation in the community of about 1,800. It was the main topic on the community radio station for several weeks and the hamlet council held meetings to discuss the crime.
Elders went on air to tell people such activity had no place in traditional Inuit culture.
The community's cemetery is operated by the municipality. The ground is very rocky, so coffins are usually covered in mounds of stones instead of being buried.
A Nunavut man who admitted he indecently interfered with human remains in a graveyard has been sentenced to two years in jail.
Bobby Suwarak of Baker Lake was arrested last fall after graves were dug up in the remote Arctic community. He was charged after DNA tests on bodily fluids found at the site. An RCMP spokesman at the time said the charges involved sexual activity.
Suwarak will also be on probation for three years after he is released and will have to stay at least 50 metres away from all graveyards.
Justice Sue Cooper said in her decision that Suwarak violated social taboos found in all cultures.
Suwarak has been convicted twice before for sexual assault.
He has been deaf since birth and his first conviction in the 1990s spurred the development of Inuktitut sign language now used in Nunavut's courts.
The coffins were opened at the Baker Lake cemetery in June — during the near-24-hour daylight of the Arctic summer — and the contents disturbed.
Officers from the major crimes unit in Iqaluit assisted the three-member local detachment in the investigation.
The grave tampering was a common subject of conversation in the community of about 1,800. It was the main topic on the community radio station for several weeks and the hamlet council held meetings to discuss the crime.
Elders went on air to tell people such activity had no place in traditional Inuit culture.
The community's cemetery is operated by the municipality. The ground is very rocky, so coffins are usually covered in mounds of stones instead of being buried.