'I'm sorry': Pond Inlet teen was distraught, remorseful upon arrest for murder, court hears

Warning: This story contains content that some readers may find disturbing.

When Wayne Panipakoocho was arrested for murder in June 2019, the then-19-year-old was distraught, sobbing, screaming, and apologetic.

"Oh, did he die?" Panipakoocho asked RCMP officers with agony in his voice, as they arrested him near the boarding home in Iqaluit about four hours after he allegedly shot and killed Hannas Braun in a home in the 2600 block of the city.

"I'm sorry," Panipakoocho screamed. "I thought he wouldn't die. I thought he wouldn't die."

Panipakoocho, now 22-years-old, is facing a first-degree murder charge in the death. He has pleaded not guilty.

On the first day of his trial in Iqaluit on Monday, the court heard from the Crown's first witness, Cpl. Dan Sharpe, who was an RCMP homicide investigator in Nunavut at the time of the alleged murder.

It was Sharpe who arrested Panipakochoo, and read him his rights.

During Sharpe's testimony, the Crown played an audio recording of the arrest, in which Panipakoocho sounds distraught, at times unintelligible, and repeatedly apologizes to Braun — who by this point had died at the Qikiqtani General Hospital.

"I'm sorry Hannas. I'm sorry Hannas. I'm sorry Hannas," Panipakochoo says on the recording while being driven to the Iqaluit RCMP detachment.

"I didn't try to kill him."

Over the course of his first day in custody Panipakoocho is heard to say "I'm sorry" hundreds of times, through several audio recordings played by the Crown as evidence

The audio recordings and Panipakochoo's statements to police were subject to a publication ban for the first day-and-a-half of the trial so the judge could rule on their admissibility, although Panipakoocho's lawyers didn't object to their use.

Justice Susan Charlesworth ruled on Tuesday the recordings were admissible.

Burned cabin and stolen guns

In the recordings, Panipakoocho tells officers he and a friend broke into a shack just outside of Apex, stole approximately five guns, and that his friend burned the shack down.

Panipakoocho is also facing arson and break-and-enter charges in relation to the shack incident, though those will be addressed after his murder trial.

Panipakoocho tells officers it was with one of those allegedly stolen guns that he shot Braun.

On the recordings, Panipakoocho explains to police he ended up at his aunt's house in the 2600 block with Braun and Panipakoocho's cousin early on the morning of the alleged shooting. His aunt was not home, he told officers.

"Hannas was very crazy too," he told Sharpe at the RCMP detachment as the two shared a take-out meal from a local restaurant.

"And I'm scared of him. So I wouldn't fight about anything with him."

At points in the recording, Panipakoocho alludes to how his lawyer instructed him not to say anything. However Sharpe testified Panipakoocho seemed willing to answer his questions about the incident.

Sharpe testified he was trying to take a "pure version statement" from Panipakoocho — an interview technique in which officers don't challenge a suspect and instead just listen if they're willing to talk.

'I didn't want to kill him'

Panipakoocho told Sharpe on the recordings how Braun was making unwanted sexual advances on Panipakoocho's cousin that morning.

"She started cooking. She looked for something to do so Hannas wouldn't be all over her," Panipakoocho told Sharpe, adding his cousin wanted Braun to leave.

"He wouldn't go," Panipakoocho continued, crying. "I didn't want to kill him."

He told Sharpe he then threatened Braun with the gun. Photos submitted by the Crown as evidence show a black, bolt-action rifle which was later recovered by officers with Panipakoocho's help.

Events for the Alianait Arts Festival in Iqaluit were put on hold that day as police searched the city for Panipakoocho. Police testified they were concerned someone could find the gun, as Panipakoocho dropped it on a hill near Joamie elementary school.

'I pulled the trigger'

"I mean he got up [and said] 'okay I'm going," Panipakoocho continued telling Sharpe, sobbing.

"And he, he changed all of us. He even moved [and said] you can shoot me in the head. He started walking towards me. I tried to aim down on his leg so he would live. I didn't want to kill him, I just tried to hurt him. I didn't know the gun was very strong."

Panipakoochoo told Sharpe he fired a single round. Other officers who have testified said Braun was wounded high up on his leg near his crotch.

Cpl. Justin Crocker, who attended the scene and tried to save Braun, told the court "it looked like just an explosion" as a picture of the wound was shown on a monitor in court with Braun's family present — though the family was warned beforehand.

"I was so drunk," Panipakoocho told Sharpe in the interview room.

"I kept telling him I don't want to shoot you. I want you out. And then he came towards me and I pulled the trigger."

The trial resumes on Wednesday morning.