Northern Ont. man acquitted of murder on James Bay coast
CTV
A northern Ontario family is devastated after a jury found a Moose Factory man not guilty of a 2021 murder.
A northern Ontario family is devastated after a jury found a Moose Factory man not guilty of a 2021 murder.
Otis Faries, 34, was acquitted April 10 at the Cochrane courthouse following a trial that lasted nearly three weeks and revealed there was much more to the story.
Faries was 31 years old when he was charged with first-degree murder in connection with the death of 58-year-old Gilbert Tomagatick in the small James Bay coast community of Moose Factory.
Nishnawbe-Aski Police found Tomagatick on Oct. 2, 2021, around 4:15 p.m. at a home on Sakabuskum Road with serious injuries after having been assaulted, Ontario Provincial Police said in a news release days after it happened.
Police said he was taken to hospital and later died of his injuries.
A copy of the indictment obtained by CTVNewsNorthernOntario.ca shows the charge against Faries was lowered to second-degree murder Jan. 17, 2023.
"I feel like I've been punched in the face," the victim's son, Gilbert Tomagatick Jr., told CTV News in a phone interview Friday following the verdict.
