Jury selection is underway for a man charged in the deaths of two New Brunswick boys who were suffocated by a python in August 2013.
Jean-Claude Savoie, who now lives near Montreal, is charged with criminal negligence causing death.
He pleaded not guilty as the case convened Monday.
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Four-year-old Noah Barthe and his six-year-old brother, Connor, died after a 45-kilogram African rock python fell on top of them as they slept in Savoie’s apartment in Campbellton, N.B.
At the time, the RCMP said the snake managed to get out of its tank overnight and into a ventilation pipe in the ceiling.
Its weight caused the pipe to collapse and the snake fell into the room where the boys were sleeping.
The apartment was above the Reptile Ocean pet store, also owned by Savoie, who was a family friend of the boys and had taken them shopping and to a farm before the sleepover with his son.
Zoo staff seized 23 reptiles from the store in the days after their deaths. The reptiles were banned without a permit in New Brunswick. Four large American alligators were euthanized.
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Since 1992, the African rock python has been banned in New Brunswick unless a permit is obtained.
Environment Canada said one of its wildlife officers took the snake to Reptile Ocean in 2002.
Mark Johnson, a spokesman for the department, said they were asked to help take the snake to Reptile Ocean after it was abandoned at the SPCA in Moncton, N.B.
In an email, he said department records indicate Reptile Ocean was operating as a zoo when the snake arrived at the facility in August 2002.
Canada’s Accredited Zoos and Aquariums, the only nationally recognized body in the country that grants accreditation for zoos, said Reptile Ocean was never accredited nor requested accreditation.
The province’s Natural Resources Department said it was not aware the African rock python was being kept in the apartment prior to the deaths of the boys.
Jury selection is being held at the Campbellton Civic Centre in order to accommodate nearly 400 potential jurors. One end of the rink has been converted into a make-shift court.
“Your job will be to consider the evidence, and in the end decide if Jean-Claude Savoie is guilty or not-guilty,” Judge Fred Ferguson told the potential jurors.
Once jury selection is complete, the trial will be held at the nearby Campbellton courthouse. Two weeks have been set aside for the trial.