‘I killed my roommate’: the jury showed text messages from suspect to father

On the second day of Nikolas Ibey’s trial for first-degree murder, the jury was shown a bloodied piece of wood found in the bedroom of the Inuk woman he is accused of murdering two years ago.

The prosecutors walked slowly in front of the fourteen jurors, holding that important piece of evidence in their hands and pointing out bloodstains, a hole with a screw sticking out of it, and places where the wood fibers were missing.

Photos shown earlier in the trial showed what appeared to be the same piece of wood located in the basement of the rental unit where Ibey had lived and worked on renovations.

On Friday, members of the Ottawa Police Service’s forensic unit are expected to continue testifying and introducing evidence related to the piece of wood, bloodstains and other items recovered from the scene.

The five-week trial period began Wednesday with the Crown alleging that Ibey, now 35, drank, used drugs and became frustrated in his attempts to find an escort until late on the night of September 10 and early morning of September 11, 2022, before sexually assaulting and killing his new roommate.

Savanna Pikuyak, 22, had recently moved to Ottawa from Nunavut and moved in with Ibey just four days earlier.

‘I killed my roommate’

On Thursday, the jury saw text messages that Ibey sent to his father on the morning of September 11, 2022, in which he confessed to killing his roommate.

“I’m in big, big trouble” and “I killed my roommate,” the messages read in part.

Testifying for the prosecution, Ibey’s father recalled the frantic moments between receiving those texts, realizing it wasn’t a prank, calling 911 and driving to the scene.

Ibey’s messages to his father also included suicide threats, instructions to “call the police” and the claim that he would “go to jail until I die.”

Earlier in the trial, the jury heard how Ibey had searched online for the length of sentences for murder and first-degree murder prior to his written confession.

Father and brother of suspect witnesses

Pikuyak responded to an advertisement on Facebook to rent a room in the three-bedroom terraced house on Woodvale Green in Ottawa, the Crown told the jury earlier in the trial.

Ibey’s brother had bought the house last month. He offered Ibey the basement room and put him in charge of finding other tenants and collecting the rent.

Their 68-year-old adoptive father James Ibey was in Ottawa to help renovate the investment property. He testified that he was having coffee and a cigarette when the text messages from his son came through.

His first reaction was to tell Ibey, “lol, stop that bullshit,” but he quickly fell into what he described as shock when he realized it wasn’t a joke.

He said he woke Ibey’s brother Christopher Ibey, who then called emergency services. The two then drove to the rental property where they discovered that the police had already arrived.

At the end of the day on Thursday, the jury was shown graphic photos of the crime scene.

Nikolas Ibey, now 35, pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder at the start of his trial this week in Ottawa Supreme Court, after the Crown rejected his guilty plea to the lesser offense of first-degree murder.

On Thursday, he sat slumped in the prisoner’s box, wearing a white T-shirt and gray pants, his arms resting on his knees for most of the proceedings.