Rapist may face lengthy sentence if found to be dangerous offender

Warning: This report contains details of a sexual assault, as heard in court, that readers may find disturbing.

There was blood on the damaged door of Apartment 211 and a woman, clearly in distress, could be heard “whimpering and crying inside.”

The date was November 21, 2019, and police were responding to a complaint from a neighbour of a disturbance at an apartment block on Yellowknife’s Con Road.

RCMP officers knocked on the locked door – which had footmarks on it – and heard a female voice telling them to come in, a Yellowknife court heard on Monday.

When nobody immediately came to the door, officers forced entry and encountered a disturbing scene.

Bleeding from his head, Gary Nartok was standing up from a couch and doing up his pants, with his belt still undone, Crown prosecutor Noel Sinclair told a Supreme Court sentencing hearing.

“Police officers also observed [a woman] lying on the couch. She appeared grossly intoxicated,” Sinclair said.

“She was wearing clothing on her upper body – a coat and gloves – but was naked from the waist down.”

The 28-year-old woman was crying and unable to answer officers’ questions. A second, older woman was described as being passed out on a chair in the same room.

When Nartok, 42, was asked what was going on, he replied: “We had sex.”

He was arrested and charged with sexual assault, as it was evident the intoxicated woman was in no state to give consent.

The woman was taken to Stanton Territorial Hospital. Medical staff determined she was too drunk to legally agree to a sexual assault examination.

She was stabilized and monitored overnight. The next day, the examination was performed.

“Mr Nartok admits to penetrative sexual intercourse with [the woman] while she was grossly incapacitated by alcohol intoxication and thereby incapable of consenting to any sexual activity with Mr Nartok,” said the prosecutor.

“It is the Crown’s intent to … have Mr Nartok assessed to determine the merits of an application for a dangerous long-term offender designation.”

Under the Criminal Code of Canada, courts can find criminals to be dangerous offenders if they have a pattern of repetitive behaviour that “constitutes a threat to the life, safety, or physical or mental well-being of other persons.” 

If the court determines an offender’s behaviour can’t be controlled through the normal incarceration process, they will be sentenced to a penitentiary for an indeterminate period.

Full details of Nartok’s past weren’t immediately available, but court documents state he has an “extensive criminal record.”

In the latest incident, the woman had been drinking Private Stock fortified wine in downtown Yellowknife with another man, who was described as a friend of hers.

The court heard the woman and that man had consensual sex in the same apartment later that day. It’s not clear when Nartok and the other, older woman entered the apartment.

“[The woman’s] last memory before waking up in the hospital on the morning of November 22 is being downtown with [her friend],” said Sinclair.

Justice Shannon Smallwood adjourned proceedings until October 9.