Python ‘growled,’ lunged after killing two N.B. boys, Mountie tells trial

The jury trial for a New Brunswick man charged in the deaths of two young boys who were suffocated by a python is underway in Campbellton, N.B.

Jean-Claude Savoie, who now lives near Montreal, has pleaded not guilty to criminal negligence causing death.

Four-year-old Noah Barthe and his six-year-old brother Connor died after a 45-kilogram African rock python fell into the room where they slept in Savoie’s Campbellton apartment in August 2013.

The apartment was above the Reptile Ocean pet store, which was also owned by Savoie.

At the time, the RCMP said the snake managed to get out of its tank overnight while the boys were sleeping.

READ MORE: New Brunswick python owner got animals from Environment Canada

On Monday, a jury of four men and eight women were chosen from a pool of several hundred who turned out at the Campbellton Civic Centre.

Crown Attorney Pierre Rouselle has laid out the Crown’s case in his opening remarks, saying they believe the python left the enclosure and went through the air duct. He says there was evidence the duct was often left uncovered.

“Mr. Savoie committed a breach of duty to take care of those children when they were left with him by their mother,” Roussel told the jury. “He didn’t kill them himself but he failed to take precautions.”

Roussel told the jury they will hear the snake had gotten into the duct before, and that an employee had warned Savoie the vent cover needed to be repaired.

“Mr. Savoie neglected to cover said vent and left an opening in his snake pen and that through that the snake was able to escape and cross through the vent and drop into the living room.”

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He said the cover was found on the floor of the snake enclosure.

“Mr. Savoie was aware of the behaviour and nature of this African rock python that he was keeping. You will hear evidence that this snake was pretty aggressive. That there were special measures that had to be taken in order to care for it,” he said.

The python lunged, snapped its jaws, and made “growling noises” when it was forced back into its pen after killing two sleeping boys, an Roussel told the New Brunswick jury.

The Crown entered several items into evidence, including a ceiling tile that the air vent went through, parts of the vent, pieces found in the ceiling and the snake enclosure. More than 33 photos of the scene have also been admitted, along with a recording of the 911 call made by Savoie.

Roussel called the deaths of the boys “a sad story, a tragic story.” Savoie was a family friend who had taken the boys shopping and to a farm before the sleepover with his son.

The judge instructed the four-man, eight-woman jury about the presumption of innocence, and said Savoie starts with a “clean slate” at the beginning of the trial.

-With files from Canadian Press