Trial for Shellbrook overpass damages wraps up

Green used Malenfant’s recollections as an example of how investigators suffered from tunnel vision.

Green said Malenfant stopped investigating a separate piece of equipment, despite its damage being consistent with the damage to the overpass.

The Crown prosecutor responded that the testimony Green referred to included Malenfant further stating that some – not all – of the damage on that separate piece of equipment was consistent, whereas the Eagle Creek equipment’s damage was fully consistent.

Green’s arguments also spoke of eyewitness testimony from Brody Anderson, in which he stated that a piece of equipment hauled by a semi colliding with the overpass made the “loudest explosion I’ve ever seen or heard.”

Green said considering the facts that eyewitnesses saw sparks fly everywhere, and had observed the semi traveling at highway speed – 100 kilometres an hour – “I’m surprised if it’s (the equipment) not in 20 pieces, wherever it is.”

Green said that kind of damage wasn’t present in photo evidence that showed rust, scratches, and red paint or rust on the boom of the equipment that Eagle Creek had been hauling on a flatbed trailer.

Crown prosecutor Evan Thompson disputed that in his final arguments. He pointed out that eyewitnesses had stated the piece of equipment had shifted, not fallen apart.

Thompson said there was extensive photo evidence of the damage to the girders of the Shellbrook overpass, and that damage in the photos of the John Deere processor and semi “are puzzle pieces that match up.”

Testimony from the trial showed the oil canister leak on the processor that Eagle Creek had to replace after it was hauled to a buyer is commonplace, Green said.

The rush to replace that cylinder after the buyer cited a concern was to receive the $115,000 payment on the processor, Green said.

In regards to that processor matching witness descriptions, Green said it’s possible for more than one semi-trailer to haul a similar piece of equipment in the time span that was suggested by video surveillance from Parkland Ambulance that night.

Thompson addressed that by saying “it really is a staggering coincidence” that such a specific semi would have covered that route around the same time that night.

He said there would have had to be more than one square front, older model semi that was highly similar in colour and had no markings on the driver or passenger door, which was hauling a John Deere piece of equipment on a flatbed around that time.

Thompson acknowledged his case is circumstantial because there is no conclusive evidence an Eagle Creek semi hauling the equipment that hit the overpass. However, he said the evidence, taken in its totality, the Crown has proved beyond a reasonable doubt that Eagle Creek is guilty.

Thompson spent a significant portion of his closing arguments asking the court to deem three of the defence witnesses not credible, which would strike from the record the evidence from several of Eagle Creek’s ownership and staff if the judge agreed with Thompson’s reasons.

Thompson cited what he called inconsistencies in those testimonies, particularly when considered alongside Green’s arguments.

The decision on this case is reserved until June 9.

claskowski@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @chelsealaskowsk

by Chelsea Laskowski

Trial for Shellbrook overpass damages wraps up

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