Two days after Savanna Pikuyak\u0027s body was buried, the man accused of killing her had the charge against him upgraded to first\u002Ddegree 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.Sign up to receive daily headline news from the Ottawa SUN, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.
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 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.Article contentPikuyak’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.
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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