‘Horror movie’ image gets Point Hope man 15 years

PALMER — It’s been more than three years, but Tariek Oviuk’s attempted murder case ended this past week when he received a prison sentence of 15 years.

Oviuk, 28, of Point Hope, was arrested Jan. 17, 2005 after the mother of his children, Grace Oomittuk, 25, surreptitiously called 911 as he attacked her in a Palmer garage. After she ran bleeding from the garage police found she’d been beaten, hit with a baseball bat and sliced with a box cutter. Oviuk later turned the knife on himself.

A Palmer jury convicted him of assault and attempted murder. He received a 25-year sentence. But, on appeal, Oviuk was granted a new trial based on Superior Court Judge Eric Smith’s decision to not allow him to represent himself. Smith’s reasoning was that the shackles Oviuk had to wear would bias the jury against him.

As the new trial approached, Oviuk chose instead to plead guilty to attempted murder in exchange for a 15-year sentence. At the start of Oviuk’s sentencing hearing Tuesday, prosecutor Rachel Gernat played the tap of Oomittuk’s 911 call.

“Please! We’ll get married; do whatever you want. Please! We’ll get married, I promise,” Oomittuk is heard saying on the tape.

Though the term of Oviuk’s incarceration was set, attorneys in the case still had to argue over suspended time — how many years Oviuk could potentially serve if, upon release, he didn’t change his ways.

Gernat asked for 25 years of suspended time, arguing that Oviuk had intended murder when he began his attack.

“Had (Oomittuk) not had a cell phone she would’ve remained locked in that garage with the defendant,” Gernat said. “She saved her life. She kept it from being a murder case.”

Gernat pointed to past domestic violence on Oviuk’s record — an assault he’d committed on Oomittuk, threats he’d made to kill her and a protective order he’d violated.

“History is often a good predictor of future behavior,” Gernat said. “When he snaps he’s extremely violent.”

John Richard argued his client took responsibility for the attack.

“He’s never said he didn’t do what was done,” Richard said. But Oviuk believes he never intended to kill Oomittuk. “He felt and still feels, I’m sure strongly, that he didn’t really want to plead to something he didn’t do.”

After weighing his options and talking to inmates who had passed up plea deals and ended up, after trial, serving more time than they’d been offered, Oviuk eventually decided on a plea agreement, Richard said.

He argued for 10 years of suspended time, saying Oviuk’s prison record spoke to his potential for rehabilitation.

“Incarceration has affected him in a way that we hope incarceration affects everyone but just doesn’t,” Richard said.

Connie Fredenberg, Oomittuk’s mother, told Oviuk he needed to do the right thing and accept his prison term. She also urged him to give up any custody claims on his children, one of whom, a boy, refuses to sign his name Oviuk and will only write Oomittuk.

“You wanted to take his mom away and you were willing to kill yourself and leave him alone in this world,” Fredenberg said. “It’s awful to think of you spending the rest of your life in jail but it’s terrifying to think of you not being in jail.”

During a long and articulate speech, Oviuk asked for forgiveness from Oomittuk and Fredenberg and urged his family in Point Hope to seek forgiveness for the grudges they’ve held since the case began.

“It’s a sobering thought for me to realize that my actions, my selfish actions, were a few drops of blood away from killing another human being,” he said.

Smith eventually decided on a 20-year suspended term and five years of probation, during which time Oviuk is liable to serve the suspended time if he re-offends.

He said the image from the case that stands out most for him is of, “Mr. Oviuk standing over the victim with a box cutter, clicking it open and saying, ‘I want to talk to you.’ It was straight out of a horror movie.”

He wished Oviuk luck.

“There is a huge amount of potential in you. You’re a very, very smart man,” Smith said.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.