Man sentenced to three years for Norman Wells break-ins

A man has been sentenced to three years’ imprisonment for a series of break-ins in Norman Wells in 2024.

RCMP arrested Kevin Kivi, 32, in June that year and charged him with a total of 19 offences following several break-ins in the town over a 24-hour period.

In Territorial Court in Yellowknife last Friday, Judge Gary Magee sentenced Kivi, who had pleaded guilty to several of those charges, to three years in prison, as first reported by the CBC. Kivi was given 702 days’ credit for time served in pre-sentencing custody.

Once released from prison, Kivi will be on probation for a year and prohibited from possessing firearms for 20 years.

According to an agreed statement of facts, the break-ins all occurred between the evening of June 22 and morning of June 23, 2024. At the time, Kivi was subject to an RCMP-issued undertaking to not possess firearms, weapons or ammunition.

The agreed facts state RCMP first received a report shortly before 4:30am on June 23 that Kivi had entered a man’s house through a bedroom window. The man said Kivi was wearing a balaclava, was behaving strangely and seemed intoxicated, and said he was “getting his stuff” before he left through the front door and rode away on a bike.

Police then received a call around 8:30am regarding an incident at an apartment building. Officers reviewed security footage taken shortly before 8am that showed Kivi kick an apartment door several times and hit it with a fire hydrant.

Around 8:50am, police received a call that another man who lived near the apartments had woken up around 8am and heard a noise in his house that he thought was his roommate. When the man went downstairs, however, he found his kitchen in disarray and items missing including his backpack, headset, licence, air pods, some food and beer. The man also found a pillowcase in front of the fridge containing his PlayStation and some food.

Another man called police around 10:15am to report that he had seen Kivi snooping around properties on Falcon Avenue. Police attended the area and found and arrested Kivi. He had fur boots, a bottle of whiskey, an Apple watch and a black balaclava on him at the time.

Police searched the surrounding area and found a property with a shed that looked like its door had been kicked in. Officers searched the shed and found several backpacks inside, one which contained .22 ammunition, an iPhone, a pry bar, drug paraphernalia and a wig. Police also located the items the second man had reported missing and returned them to him.

Around 1:50pm, another man called RCMP and said he had been robbed by Kivi the night prior. He said he heard a loud bang on the door and when he opened it, he recognized Kivi wearing a black balaclava and holding something that he thought was a rifle. The man said Kivi told him he “wanted shit” and directed him to give him a wallet, iPad, iPhone, PlayStation and speakers.

Police recovered the missing iPhone in the shed. The object Kivi was holding was never recovered.

Finally, at 8:15pm, someone reported there had been a break-in at the Bottle Depot and a phone charger was missing. Police reviewed surveillance footage that showed Kivi at the Bottle Depot wearing a wig and balaclava at 2:55am, then returning without the wig and balaclava around 4:30am and using the flashlight from a smart phone to look around.