Attempted-murder trial under way

Man, 24, allegedly slashed, beat former girlfriend in January near Farm Loop

Sept. 2, 2005

MARY AMES\Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - Lawyers delivered opening statements Wednesday in the Palmer Superior Court trial of a man accused of trying to slash and beat his former girlfriend to death at her mother's Palmer-area home earlier this year.

Tariek Oviuk, 24, of Point Hope, who is charged with first-degree attempted murder and first- and second-degree assault, sat quietly and showed little emotion as the attorneys spoke.

The prosecution and defense agreed that early on the evening of Jan. 17, 2005, Oviuk assaulted Grace Oomittuk in the garage of her mother's home in the Farm Loop area.

"He slashed her with a carpenter's knife, beat her with a baseball bat, hit her with fists. And he kicked her," said Assistant District Attorney Suzanne Powell. "The only reason she is alive today is because she persuaded him to unlock the door. She promised to marry him, to not call the police and to clean up the mess. She promised him whatever she could."

Emergency dispatchers heard Oomittuk make those promises because Oomittuk had surreptitiously dialed 911 with a cell phone tucked in her pocket, and left the line open.

Oviuk told Oomittuk he was going to kill her and then kill himself, according to Powell.

But Assistant Public Defender Diane Foster cautioned the jury about speculating about what was in Oviuk's mind that night. She told them to keep two things in mind.

"Mr. Oviuk did not intend to kill. He had to mean to kill her," Foster said. "You have to keep in mind what evidence there is of intent to kill and to cause serious physical injury.

On that cold, windy night in January, it took Alaska State Troopers about five minutes to find the residence where the assault took place. They found Oomittuk's teenage brother at the house. When they approached the garage, Oomittuk ran past them, covered in blood.

When Oviuk emerged from the garage, he had a visible wound on the right side of his neck and was holding a knife to his throat. He ran from the troopers, told them he had the devil in him and that he couldn't see a way out.

Trooper Sgt. Jason Fieser was able to talk Oviuk out of harming himself further, persuading him to come back into the warmth of the bloody garage.

On Thursday, Dr. Kevin DelDuca, a Valley Hospital emergency room physician, told the jury he treated Oviuk and Oomittuk's injuries that night.

Because Omiuk's neck wounds were self-inflicted, blood was drawn to test for alcohol and drugs. The blood screening was negative, and he had no other wounds, according to DelDuca.

DelDuca clearly recalled treating Oomittuk eight months ago.

You don't forget that kind of story," he said. "With so many injuries, you prioritize. And with Grace, the main concern was the head injury. She needed a CAT scan to see if there was blood on the brain."

Oomittuk did not appear to be intoxicated, he said, and her head wound was potentially life threatening. DelDuca estimated that he spent about 45 minutes at her bedside taking care of just the wounds on her head. His final diagnosis was blunt trauma to the head and multiple lacerations.

The trial is expected to continue into next week before Superior Court Judge Eric Smith.

Oomittuk attended the first day of trial and intends to stay through to the end. She said she has recovered physically from her injuries and moved back to Point Hope, where she has a job as supervisor of the clinic there. The children she and Oviuk have together - a 3-year-old girl and a 6-year-old boy - miss their father, she said. If he receives treatment, Oomittuk said she thinks she could be safe around him.

"Everybody changes," Oomittuk said in a conversation outside court Wednesday.

Contact Mary Ames at

352-2284 or mary.ames@

frontiersman.com.