Close X
Wednesday, November 13, 2024
ADVT 
National

Verdict Delayed For Speedboat Operator Accused In Shuswap Lake Death

The Canadian Press, 24 Sep, 2015 01:18 PM
    KAMLOOPS, B.C. — A speedboat operator accused of driving erratically and killing the driver of a houseboat will have to wait a month to learn his fate.
     
    Leon Reinbrecht is charged with criminal negligence causing death and criminal negligence causing bodily harm in the July 2010 crash on Shuswap Lake that claimed the life of Ken Brown.
     
    Reinbrecht's trial began in B.C. Supreme Court earlier this year.
     
    Justice Sheri Donegan was slated to deliver her verdict Wednesday but will now wait until Oct. 27.
     
    Multiple witnesses testified about seeing a speedboat being driven erratically on the busy lake in the moments leading up to the crash, which followed a post-Canada Day fireworks display.
     
    Defence lawyers repeatedly focused their questioning on whether the houseboat was properly lit.
     
    An expert witness for the defence testified the lighting system was not working at the time of the crash, and police admitted they failed to check it. 
     
    Justin Beaumont, an expert in marine-vessel investigations, also raised questions about the police investigation.
     
    At one point during the trial, an RCMP corporal who investigated the crash contacted Beaumont's employer, the Canadian Coast Guard, to see if the man would be in conflict by testifying.
     
    Toxicology reports showed Brown was impaired at the time of his death. The Crown put forward no evidence about whether Reinbrecht was intoxicated, but a witness who was on the speedboat said Reinbrecht had been drinking.
     
    In his closing argument in June, defence lawyer Joe Doyle compared Brown to a driver on a highway without headlights.
     
    "This is running into an unlit vessel that's moving, that should have had its lights on," Doyle said.
     
    "He (Brown) shouldn't have been out there."

    MORE National ARTICLES

    Former Harper Aide Exaggerated Extent Of Pull With Government, Trial Told

    The case is connected with an Ottawa-based company that employed his girlfriend at the time, a former sex trade worker.

    Former Harper Aide Exaggerated Extent Of Pull With Government, Trial Told

    First Nations Tourism A Cultural 'Snapshot,' And 'A New Geography Of Hope'

    First Nations Tourism A Cultural 'Snapshot,' And 'A New Geography Of Hope'
    Tahn Donovan tears up as she recalls watching a murder of crows circle above a singing First Nations' man, the birds crowing as he broke into traditional song in the middle of Vancouver's Stanley Park.

    First Nations Tourism A Cultural 'Snapshot,' And 'A New Geography Of Hope'

    Alberta RCMP Issue Amber Alert For Missing Two-Year-Old Girl

    Alberta RCMP Issue Amber Alert For Missing Two-Year-Old Girl
    BLAIRMORE, Alta. — RCMP have issued an Amber Alert for a missing two-year-old girl in southwestern Alberta.

    Alberta RCMP Issue Amber Alert For Missing Two-Year-Old Girl

    Vancouver's Friendly Downtown Deer Boasting Its Own Twitter Handle Killed By Car

    Vancouver's Friendly Downtown Deer Boasting Its Own Twitter Handle Killed By Car
    Police say they were called to the Vancouver end of the Lions Gate Bridge around 7:30 p.m. Sunday after receiving a call that a deer had been struck by a car and killed.

    Vancouver's Friendly Downtown Deer Boasting Its Own Twitter Handle Killed By Car

    Flu-Monitoring Program Seeks B.C. Health Practitioners To Evaluate Illnesses

    Flu-Monitoring Program Seeks B.C. Health Practitioners To Evaluate Illnesses
    Health care practitioners are urged to join the Canadian Sentinel Practitioner Surveillance Network, which has sites in Alberta, Ontario and Quebec.

    Flu-Monitoring Program Seeks B.C. Health Practitioners To Evaluate Illnesses

    Seniors Advocate Says B.C. Must Connect More Seniors With Respite Relief

    A new report by Isobel Mackenzie says the government needs to do a better job connecting seniors and their unpaid caregivers with programs set up to offer relief.

    Seniors Advocate Says B.C. Must Connect More Seniors With Respite Relief