First-degree murder: Nikolas Ibey found guilty in 2022 death of Savanna Pikuyak

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Jurors needed only three hours of deliberations on Tuesday before finding Nikolas Ibey guilty of first-degree murder in the Sept. 11, 2022, killing of Savanna Pikuyak.

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Ibey, 35, had already admitted to killing Pikuyak and had pleaded guilty to second-degree murder at the outset of his trial on Nov. 12, but that plea was rejected by the Crown.

Pikuyak, a 22-year-old nursing student, had recently rented a room from Ibey at the townhouse at 34 Woodvale Green after moving from her home in Sanirajak, Nunavut, to pursue her studies at Algonquin College when she was murdered.

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Pikuyak’s family members were expected to deliver victim-impact statements in court following the verdict. Another statement was to be read on behalf of her community in Nunavut.

Crown prosecutors Michael Purcell and Sonia Beauchamp told the jury there was “ample” evidence that Ibey sexually assaulted Pikuyak before killing her, a factor that “elevates” the crime to first-degree murder.

Ibey’s defence lawyer, Ewan Lyttle, said Pikuyak’s murder was “awful, tragic and heartbreaking.”

He acknowledged that his client was guilty of murder, but denied Ibey had committed a sexual assault.

During closing arguments to the jury on Monday, the prosecution countered by showing the jury graphic crime scene photos of Pikuyak’s half-naked, beaten body after she was found lying face-down on a mattress.

“The pictures tell all,” Beauchamp told the jury, as she outlined the evidence pointing to an “undeniable” sexual assault.

There were drops of blood on the carpet at the entrance to Pikuyak’s bedroom, where, according to the Crown, Ibey attacked Pikuyak with a piece of wood that was later found spattered with the victim’s blood.

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There were pools of blood on the carpet showing “the attack continued while she lay there” as Ibey forcibly confined her, Beauchamp said.

Ibey struck Pikuyak in the arms, face and head “over and over again” with the piece of wood Beauchamp said, and Pikuyak had defensive injuries as she tried to fight back.

Prosecutors pointed to the positioning of the victim’s body, lying face-down, legs spread apart and naked from the waist down, her underwear and pants around her ankles. Her shirt and bra were lifted up over her chest and twisted together. She was gagged and strangled with a knotted sweater.

“She died suffocated and strangled,” Beauchamp said, and there is “ample evidence” of both forcible confinement and sexual assault.

No male DNA was found in a post-mortem examination of the victim’s genitals, but Ibey’s DNA was found on Pikuyak’s left and right breast.

“When you use common sense, and when you look at the pictures, the only reasonable conclusion is that there was a sexual assault,” Beauchamp said. “It is clear that (Ibey) entered that room with one purpose in mind, the same purpose he had been chasing all night.”

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Ibey sexually assaulted and strangled Pikuyak after he was left sexually frustrated by an hours-long search for a sex worker earlier in the night.

The Crown presented a volume of text messages, sex chats and internet searches for “escorts” that began around 7 p.m. the night before the killing and ended around 3 a.m. on Sept. 11.

Ibey beat, confined and sexually assaulted Pikuyak, prosecutors said, before he strangled her to death between 3 and 9 a.m.

“There is no reason, other than a sexual assault, to beat her, confine her, bind her, gag her, lift up her shirt and take off her pants,” Beauchamp said.

The act of removing Pikuyak’s clothing was enough to constitute a sexual assault, even if the attack went no further, prosecutors said.

“This was a sexual killing,” she told the jury. “This was, and is first-degree murder.”

More to come…

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