A 13-year-old boy who fired at an RCMP residence in Kimmirut, Nunavut, in June will not serve time in custody, a Nunavut Court of Justice judge ruled Friday.

Justice Robert Kilpatrick handed down a strict probation order for the teen, who had pleaded guilty to mischief and two firearms-related charges in the June 21 incident in the Baffin Island hamlet.

In an Iqaluit courtroom Friday morning, Kilpatrick sentenced the boy to 20 months of probation, a curfew, a DNA sample order, and a ban on the possession and use of firearms, among other conditions.

The Crown had withdrawn two charges of attempted murder against the boy on June 26, when he pleaded guilty to the other charges.

Shot lodged in dresser

The boy, who cannot be identified under the Youth Criminal Justice Act, fired a shot through the window frame of the Kimmirut RCMP residence in the early morning of June 21.

A bullet from a .303 rifle pierced the house and became lodged in a bedroom dresser, while an RCMP officer was sleeping nearby. No one was hurt.

Crown prosecutor Larry Stein had called for four months in a youth facility and two months of supervision, arguing that a threat or attempt to cause bodily harm means a violent crime had been committed.

The Youth Criminal Justice Act only allows young offenders to serve time in custody if their offences fit the definition of a violent crime.

Few social services

Kilpatrick ruled that Canadian courts disagree with such a broad definition of a violent crime, but added that the boy's sentence would have been different had he been in adult court.

On Thursday, defence counsel Christian Lyons argued that the boy never intended to hurt anyone, adding that it would be in his client's best interests to be returned to his parents and siblings.

In a plea for leniency, the boy's father told the court that parental love should outweigh legal arguments in his son's sentencing.

The youth will now return to Kimmirut, a community where few social services exist.

Kilpatrick ordered the Nunavut government to send a probation officer to Kimmirut on a monthly basis, saying it's unacceptable for the community to have no social worker, probation officer or mental health worker.

More often than not, police officers are left to supervise offenders in Nunavut communities, which would explain why the territory's court dockets are so long, Kilpatrick said.