Assault yields 25-year penalty

Point Hope man sentenced for January crime

December 18, 2005

MARY AMES/Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - A Point Hope man convicted in September of assaulting and attempting to murder the mother of his two children was sentenced in Palmer Superior Court on Friday.

Tariek Oviuk, 24, received 45 years in prison, with 20 years suspended, from Superior Court Judge Eric Smith, who said he wanted to make clear that he thinks Oviuk isn't an evil person.

&#8220Something in him needs to be fixed,” Smith said.

Oviuk was staying in an apartment above the detached garage at the home of Connie Fredenberg, mother of Oviuk's former girlfriend, Grace Oomittuk. Oviuk wanted to spend the holidays last year with Oomittuk and their two young children before returning to school in Fairbanks, according to court testimonies.

Oviuk was clean and sober on Jan. 17 as he waited for Oomittuk to drive into the garage on Biscane Drive, according to court testimony. When Oomittuk got out of her car, he punched her in the face until she fell to the ground, then kicked her in the head. Oviuk said he was going to kill her as he beat her in the head with a baseball bat, according to court documents.

At sentencing, Smith told Oviuk the photos of Oomittuk's injuries were pretty horrific.

&#8220The most chilling moment in the trial, for me, was hearing that you pulled out the box cutter, clicked it open and said, ‘I just want to talk,' while Ms. Oomittuk was lying on the floor, already pretty beat up,” Smith said. &#8220I can't even begin to imagine what the mother of your children must have been thinking.”

Oomittuk was able to call 911 on a cell phone that night, but the call was disconnected. When dispatchers called back, Oomittuk answered, then dropped the phone. Dispatchers could hear her plead with Oviuk for her life, saying she would marry him, if that was what he wanted.

Oviuk so severely cut the woman he said he loved, that after hours of repair at the hospital, Oomittuk told the doctor to stop stitching and stapling her wounds.

&#8220She begged them to tape her because she was so tired of stitches,” Fredenberg testified at trial.

Fredenberg spoke at the sentencing, reading a statement written by Oomittuk before addressing Oviuk in her own words.

&#8220Grace wrote, ‘I don't want Tariek to get out for a long time. I am afraid of him. I know when he gets out he'll come to get me. I am afraid to be in the garage alone. I have nightmares. When I went to visit him in jail with the kids, after the trial, he told me that was the only way he could tell me he loved me,'” Fredenberg said. &#8220Tariek, there's no excuses. You chose to beat her like that. Think of the memories you gave your kids. They saw her looking like something out of a Stephen King movie. I love your aunt and your grandmother. I hate to say things about you that make them feel bad. They never saw the photographs of Grace's injuries, and I want them to know why I had to say these things. We agree with the state, we don't ever want you out.”

Suzanne Powell, assistant district attorney, asked for a sentence of 45 years, saying Oviuk is a danger to the community, and to Oomittuk especially.

Diane Foster, Oviuk's public defender, told the court the case was more of an assault that got out of hand than a murder that didn't happen. So she requested a five-year sentence, with three years suspended.

Oviuk addressed the court, saying that after taking an anger-management class in jail, he realized the ripple effect of people he hurt because of this &#8220incident.”

&#8220Grace, I'm glad the steps I took didn't take your life,” Oviuk said. &#8220I violated your rights as an individual.”

Smith sentenced Oviuk to five years, to run concurrently, for the second-degree assault conviction. Smith mentioned the &#8220massive amount” of information Oviuk wrote about himself for the pre-sentence report.

&#8220He's obviously a very smart man with a lot to offer,” Smith said. &#8220But Mr. Oviuk's request that I be lenient means he doesn't really understand what he did.”

Contact Mary Ames at

352-2284 or mary.ames@

frontiersman.com.