Charges laid after carvings stolen from grieving widow's home in Iqaluit

RCMP charged a 53-year-old woman in connection with the theft of carvings from a house in Iqaluit.

Christine Ammaqischarged with breaking and entering. She was released from custody on conditions.

The carvings were stolen from the home of Geneva Chislett, while she and her family were in Ottawa staying with her husband John Manning, who was in hospital there.

Manning died on July 9 from injuries sustained in an explosion in downtownIqaluit.

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Manning's niece, Alicia Manning, says nothing has been recovered yet, but the family hopes the carvings will be.

She said John Manning collected a "a lot" of artworkwhile in Iqaluit.

"We had just got back into town that day, and Aunt Geneva went upstairs and she was justthe carvings are gone," Alicia Manning said.

"It sucks becauseyou like to think that with something bad, something good should happen, but in this case it didn't and just added more sadness and anger to an already devastating, terrible situation that we are going through."

The RCMP can't say how many carvings were stolen or how much they were worth. They continue to investigate.