Man pleads guilty to aggravated assault in Iqaluit shack fire
An Iqaluit man will be sentenced Friday after he pleaded guilty on Monday to aggravated assault in connection with a shack fire that left a 48-year-old man with third-degree burns to a quarter of his body.
Peter Sharky was back in court Tuesday where he offered a tearful apology to Billy Kownirk, who spent two months in Montreal recovering from the injuries he suffered in the May 13, 2016 incident.
Kownirk's daughter, Qilluya Lucassie, has also been charged with attempted murder and arson in connection with the shack fire. She has not yet entered a plea.
She has a court date scheduled in March.
The fire
According to an agreed statement of facts, the three of them along with Kownirk's partner were drinking heavily on the day of the incident inside a shack he had built along the beach in Iqaluit.
Kownirk had been living in the shack for about a year.
Kownirk's partner had left before an argument broke out. The argument appears to have focused on an alleged sexual assault between Lucassie and her father, according to facts agreed upon by Sharky and the Crown.
Sharky "cold-clocked" Kownirk, knocking him to the ground, said Crown lawyer Barry McLaren on Tuesday during his sentencing submissions.
Sharky and Lucassie then grabbed a can of fuel used to heat a Coleman stove inside the shack and poured it over the floor.
Lucassie lit a blanket on fire igniting the shack – along with her father.
The two fled, leaving Kownirk inside.
In a preliminary hearing, a witness described seeing a man coming out of the shack with the upper half of his body in flames.
He collapsed on the snow-covered ground, and others helped extinguish the flames.
Kownirk was medevaced to Montreal unconscious and in serious condition. He remained unconscious for about a week, received skin transplants and was left with permanent scarring.
Crown seeking penitentiary sentence
Kownirk who was in court Tuesday declined to address Justice Neil Sharkey but submitted a written victim impact statement.
The Crown characterized Sharky as a "violent man" with a history of more than half a dozen violent offences, and is seeking a penitentiary sentence of 30 months (two-and-a-half years).
The defence is asking for a 15 to 18 month sentence.
"Luckily, Mr. Kownirk wasn't killed," said Justice Sharkey. "Had Billy died, this would have been a murder case."
The judge's sentencing decision is expected Friday.
