The jury has been given the rest of the week off in the trial for a man charged with a murder on Roaches Line.

This, after being handed the criminal record of the victim, and seeing one of their own released due to illness.

Patrick Sulurayok, now 34, is accused of killing Bernard Otuk, then 26, in a cabin at Hillside Cottages.

But time and again the jury has heard it was the victim who was the aggressor, picking fights while intoxicated.

Which is where his previous criminal record comes in, with convictions for assault and forcible confinement, while intoxicated.Sulurayok’s lawyers claim he was trying to fend off and calm down a drunken Otuk, with court told he was restraining him with a chokehold that ultimately caused his death.

The two fishermen were from the same Nunavut community, with no history of bad blood, and had docked earlier in the day aboard a Baffin Fisheries vessel at Bay Roberts.

But whether that chokehold constituted murder, or was a reasonable response to the force, will be for the jury to decide.

A jury, by the way, which is now fewer by one due to illness, with two alternates standing by.

Now in its third week, the trial appears to be on its one-month schedule despite some friction between Crown and defence, the latter being accused of objecting too much before the jury.

That won’t be an issue for the next few days, as they hash out their differences in camera.

Decisions by the judge on applications are expected on Monday, which will determine how the parties proceed.

While the Crown has closed its case, the defence has yet to call any evidence.