Colin Makpah sentenced to 4 years in stabbing death of DJ Gamble
CBC
Colin Makpah has been sentenced to four years in prison for killing Donald James (DJ) Gamble in Rankin Inlet five years ago.  Justice Neil Sharkey delivered his sentence in an Iqaluit courtroom Wednesday morning with members of both Makpah and Gamble's family in attendance.  Makpah had been drinking the night he killed Gamble, a probation violation from a previous assault charge in 2009.
https://s.yimg.com/rz/l/favicon.ico
Yahoo News
Colin Makpah has been sentenced to four years in prison for killing Donald James (DJ) Gamble in Rankin Inlet five years ago.

Justice Neil Sharkey delivered his sentence in an Iqaluit courtroom Wednesday morning with members of both Makpah and Gamble's family in attendance.

He was also sentenced to an additional four months for a breach of probation. Makpah had been drinking the night he killed Gamble, a probation violation from a previous assault charge in 2009.

He will be credited with 11 months for time served while under remand and has a total of three years and five months left to serve.

He was also given a 10-year firearms ban, though will be allowed to possess one for hunting.

Makpah, 31, was found guilty of manslaughter in April. He had pleaded not guilty to the charge but admitted to stabbing Gamble with a filleting knife. His defence lawyer argued Makpah's use of force was justified and was in self-defence.

Makpah stabbed Gamble once in the neck and three times in the abdomen following a scuffle.

Gamble had initiated what Sharkey described as "essentially boorish and minimally violent" behaviour amounting to "nothing more than a glorified wrestling match."

"Colin was not the aggressor and he did not choose to get involved physically with DJ," Sharkey said.

"But he did choose to confront DJ with a knife."

Sharkey said Makpah's actions were in "excessive self-defence" calling it a "gratuitous, over the top reaction" to the minimal violence Gamble was exhibiting.

While delivering his sentence, Sharkey admitted the trial had dragged on since Gamble's death in August 2010.

"Court has, at least to some extent, failed the Gamble family by taking the five years it has taken to complete the case," he said.

"This court and our Nunavut community can do nothing to restore the life that has fled. Nothing that this court can say or do can possibly compensate the Gamble family for what they have lost."