Pond Inlet man to serve six years for killing his partner

A Pond Inlet, Nunavut, man has been handed a sentence of nine years in prison for killing his partner.

Daryl Quaraq stabbed Joanne Nutarak on April 8, 2023. She was the mother to his four children. 

Nutarak died from a stab wound eight to 10 centimetres deep, according to a decision from Nunavut Justice Mark Mossey. 

Crown and defence lawyers submitted a joint sentence of nine years, which Mossey accepted in his decision. Because of time already served, Quaraq has just under six years left. 

Between 2013 and 2022, Quaraq was charged and convicted multiple times for harming Nutarak. She would often stay at her aunt's home when she didn't feel safe, which is where Quaraq killed her, Mossey wrote. 

Quaraq was initially charged with second-degree murder, but he pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter after a resolution was reached by Crown and defence lawyers earlier this year, the decision said. 

Quaraq admitted to killing Nutarak, saying he has little memory of the events because of his level of intoxication. 

"The closure the guilty plea offers, it is hoped, will lead to further healing that is needed by all those touched by this tragedy," Mossey wrote. 

Mossey said there were several issues with the Crown's case, which led to the joint submission. Those issues included "continuity of evidence, absence of witnesses, alleged deficiencies in the initial investigation and the existence of a possible alternative suspect." 

Mossey also noted the Crown asked that the court emphasize that a nine-year sentence should not serve as a precedent for this type of case. 

"I am uncertain that I am able to provide such assurance, as certainly counsel may and will look to this sentence, in the future, to formulate a sentencing position on a manslaughter," Mossey wrote.