Guilty plea marks offender’s second manslaughter conviction in 15 years

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This article was published 19/04/2023 (919 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Four months into a trial plagued by repeated stops and starts, a Winnipeg man has admitted responsibility in the death of 35-year-old Danielle Harper, marking his second homicide conviction in 15 years.

Silas Ammaklak, 53, stood trial for second-degree murder beginning in December, and last week entered a guilty plea to the lesser offence of manslaughter.

Ammaklak, who is originally from Nunavut, was always prepared to admit to manslaughter in Harper’s killing, but it was not until recently the Crown was ready to accept his plea, defence lawyer Saheel Zaman told Manitoba Court of King’s Bench Justice Sadie Bond on April 14.

“Our position was we were prepared to resolve the matter for a manslaughter, but we can’t do that if the Crown doesn’t accept it,” Zaman said.

Harper’s body was in such a state of decomposition when it was found inside Ammaklak’s Manitoba Avenue apartment in July 2020 it was impossible to determine an exact cause of death, a pathologist testified in December.

Harper was stabbed five times in the chest and lower body, but those injuries were not fatal, court was told.

The body was unrecognizable and initially believed to be that of Ammaklak when it was discovered by the apartment owner July 24 — 10 days after Harper was reported missing from her home at New Directions supportive housing.

Much of the Crown’s case against Ammaklak was built on his police statement.

Ammaklak told police he met Harper at a bus shelter at Main Street and Higgins Avenue, at which time she shared some alcohol with him before the two took a bus to his apartment.

Ammaklak provided investigators with a shifting version of events, including a claim he and Harper were followed to his home by two men, one of them armed with a bat, before admitting he had lied.

Ammaklak said he made lunch for Harper and the two drank from bottles of vodka and beer Harper had brought. Ammaklak said Harper wanted to have sex, but he couldn’t maintain an erection. Sometime later, he said, he heard “whispering” voices telling him to pick up his pocketknife from a coffee table and stab Harper.

Ammaklak said he stabbed Harper three times and then covered her mouth and nose with his hand until she stopped breathing.

Ammaklak said he grabbed a backpack, fled the apartment and did not return before his arrest.

Ammaklak said he only heard the “evil” voice when he had been drinking.

“When I was not drinking, I think it would totally not ever happen,” he said.

Harper “was so nice and I wanted to be nice to her,” he said. “Everything that happened that day is my fault.”

Court heard an autopsy would detect smothering only if the victim struggled against their attacker. Zaman argued the court had no evidence Ammaklak killed Harper by smothering her, only his belief she had stopped breathing after he removed his hand from her nose and mouth.

With his manslaughter plea, Ammaklak was admitting his actions “contributed” to Harper’s death, while maintaining he did not intend to kill her, Zaman said.

Left alone in the police interview room, Ammaklak sobbed as he pledged to “stop lying so much, even though I have killed that lady.”

“It is clear there is an expression of remorse,” Zaman said. “He’s obviously got a guilty conscience and that comes through.”

A forensic assessment completed after Ammaklak’s arrest found he did not meet the criteria for a major mental illness and was feigning symptoms of psychosis, said Crown attorney Carrie Ritchot.

The Crown is recommending Bond sentence Ammaklak to 18 years in prison, the defence asked for 15 years, with each side agreeing he should serve half his sentence before being allowed to apply for parole.

Bond will sentence Ammaklak on May 12.

The trial was repeatedly delayed due to difficulties finding an interpreter who could translate testimony into Ammaklak’s native tongue of Inuktitut. The trial was delayed again when the Sheriff’s officer van transporting Ammaklak to court was involved in an accident and he suffered a broken knee.

In 2008, Ammaklak pleaded guilty in Nunavut to manslaughter in the 2003 beating death of his wife, Susan Natar, and was sentenced to 13 years in prison.

Court at the time heard Ammaklak punched and kicked 29-year-old Natar and threw her off a balcony, before dragging her back into her home and beating her to death with a piece of walrus cartilage.

dean.pritchard@freepress.mb.ca