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A Quebec Superior Court judge has given an Inuk man a chance to break out of the cycle of violence that has plagued his life by suspending his sentence for a fatal stabbing while he attempts rehabilitation in a program run by an Aboriginal healing foundation.

“Follow your conditions,” defence lawyer Louis Miville Deschenes told Bobby Tukkiapik, 33, on Thursday. The attorney pointed an index finger and shot a stern look toward Tukkiapik as he spoke to him through a window that separates detainees from the rest of a fourth-floor courtroom at the Montreal courthouse. Deschenes wanted to emphasize the opportunity Justice Pierre Labrie was giving Tukkiapik.

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In October, Crown prosecutor Jasmine Guillaume requested a 10-year prison term for Tukkiapik for the Dec. 18, 2015, stabbing of Adamie Qumaluk, 32. The pair had argued inside a downtown Montreal karaoke bar that is a popular hangout for people from villages in northern Quebec. Qumaluk was originally from Puvirnituq, on the western side of Nunavik and Tukkiapik was from Kuujjuaq on the eastern side.