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POV man suffers smashed head after drunken brawl

A weekend of violence in Nunavik

ODILE NELSON

Alcohol turned a casual disagreement into a brutal assault in Puvirnituq last weekend, when two young men hit a friend in the head with a barbell.

Details of the incident remain sketchy because the participants were too intoxicated to recall the event, Captain Marc Guenard of the Kativik Regional Police said this week.

But what is certain is the victim, Matteusi Tullugaq, 25, was flown to a Montreal hospital late Friday night with an enormous facial wound and his two friends, Samvillie Ivillaq, 25, and Tukai Amittuq, 21, now face charges related to the attack.

Ivillaq faces a charge of aggravated assault with a weapon. Amittuq faces one count of aiding an aggravated assault.

Guenard said both the accused and the victim are extremely lucky the assault was not deadly.

"Everybody’s lucky. The man’s injuries could have been life-threatening. He was not only hit in the side of the face, we believe he was also hit on the back of the head, near his neck," Guenard said.

The assault occurred around 6 p.m. on Mar. 7 at an unspecified residence.

From what police can piece together, the group of friends had been drinking heavily when an argument broke out between Ivillaq and one of the witnesses. Ivillaq and Ammittuq allegedly assaulted the witness, who suffered minor injuries.

Then, for still unknown reasons, Ivillaq turned against Tullugaq, Guenard said, and at some point swung at him with a seven-kilogram barbell. Amittuq helped Ivillaq in the assault.

Police arrived on the scene shortly after the fight began.

"When we arrived we found him [Tullugaq] lying on the floor. He was bleeding a bit and complaining of a headache and we could see he was hurt in his face," Guenard said. "There didn’t seem to be any cuts to his face but there was a big wound, a dent, on the side."

Guenard said that although he could guess why the assault occurred, he could not release any details because the investigation is ongoing.

Tullugaq was released from the Montreal hospital’s intensive care unit Saturday night. A crown prosecutor will lay formal charges against Ivillaq and Amittuq when court comes to Puvirnituq on Monday.

The incident began a weekend of drug and alcohol related violence in Nunavik.

According to a police press release, the Kuujjuaq detachment was also kept busy last weekend when alcohol mixed with a regional hockey tournament.

More than 300 people descended on Nunavik’s largest village for the sporting event and police were called to deal with an unusually large number of drunken individuals and assaults.

The situation was exacerbated when the town’s only taxi was involved in an accident and intoxicated customers at the local bar were left without transportation.

Seven people spent Saturday night at holding cells in Kuujjuaq’s police station. Three others remained in custody after the weekend and were to be sent South for detention.

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