Two days after Savanna Pikuyak’s body was buried in the cold and stony ground of Sanirajak, Nunavut, the man accused of killing her had the charge against him upgraded to first-degree murder.
Nikolas Ibey, 33, appeared by video in an Ottawa courtroom on the charge Thursday morning. It’s an upgrade from the second-degree murder charge laid immediately after his arrest on Sept. 12 outside the Woodvale Green townhouse where he had rented Pikuyak a room.
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A first-degree charge is laid when the killing is planned or deliberate or occurs in the commission of another offence such as sexual assault or forcible confinement, amongst other specific circumstances.
Police have not said what prompted them to upgrade the offence. If convicted, Ibey faces life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.
Pikuyak, 22, was from Sanirajak, a small Inuit community on the shores of Baffin Bay that used to be known as Hall Beach. She arrived in Ottawa on Sept. 8 to study nursing at Algonquin College and answered a Facebook ad placed by Ibey offering a room for rent in the townhouse that had been recently purchased by his brother.
Her body was found in the townhouse four days later.
Pikuyak’s body was returned to Sanirajak last week and she was buried on Tuesday with simple white tombstone surrounded by flowers and photos of her as a young girl and as an adult. Last week the Government of Nunavut established a $5,000 scholarship in her name for an Inuk studying nursing at Nunavut Arctic College.
Ibey was on probation at the time of the killing, having been sentenced to 45 days in jail after being convicted in Belleville on Jan. 5 of assaulting his former girlfriend, Lori Roche. He was also convicted of breaking and entering, uttering threats against her, threatening to kill an OPP officer and his family, and failing to comply with a restraining order to stay away from Roche.
The assault occurred last year on Halloween night when Ibey broke through the door of the Roche’s isolated farmhouse with an axe and confronted her and her son in the kitchen. Ibey was released from jail early because of concerns for inmate safety during the COVID-19 pandemic, although he was still serving 18 months on probation.
The next court appearance for Ibey, whose first name is listed as Nickolas in his Belleville court records but as Nikolas by Ottawa police, is scheduled for Oct. 21. His lawyer, Ewan Lyttle, had not responded to a request for comment by press time.
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Man accused in Woodvale Green homicide was on probation for prior convictions
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Homicide victim 'shy, with a heart of gold'; 33-year-old man charged with second-degree murder