A fourth witness is on the stand in the criminal negligence trial of the Lac-Mégantic train derailment that killed 47 people and destroyed much of the small Quebec town on July 6, 2013.
Former MMA signals and communications manager Waldimar Huamani-Alfaro is answering questions from the Crown about what he did that day.
Earlier in the afternoon, police investigator Pierre Fortier was quizzed by the defence about finding the locomotives and allowing two MMA employees on the crime scene.
“As I said, at 9:30 a.m., I was not yet sure it was a crime scene,” Fortier insisted, adding that the employees did enter two locomotives.
“I was a witness and heard what they were saying and saw them taking many pictures.”
He added once the employees left, he reported back to his superiors.
During its Tuesday morning cross-examination of second witness Jacques Lafrance, a crime scene technician with Quebec’s provincial police, the court analyzed pictures of the crime scene, asking him to describe the specifics surrounding each image.
READ MORE: Are the right people on trial for Lac-Mégantic train disaster?
Former Montreal Maine and Atlantic Railway Ltd. (MMA) train engineer Tom Harding, railway traffic controller Richard Labrie and manager of train operations, Jean Demaitre, are charged with 47 charges of criminal negligence causing death.
READ MORE: Lac-Megantic’s Musi-Cafe rises from the ashes
The three men have pleaded not guilty.
WATCH BELOW: Looking back at the train derailment
The Crown is expected to call 36 witnesses.
Devastating night
The incident happened at 1:15 a.m. on July 6, 2013, when a runaway train with 72 oil tankers — owned and operated by the now bankrupt railway company MMA — barrelled into the town at over 100 km/h.
READ MORE: Lac-Mégantic criminal negligence trial to begin Monday, as residents seek to move forward
The locomotive, and subsequently the airbrakes, were then shut down after a small fire on the train, causing the air to bleed off and the train to start sliding.
Dozens of homes and businesses were destroyed and about 2,000 residents were evacuated.
READ MORE: 1st witnesses testify in trial of 3 men in Lac-Mégantic train disaster
The bilingual trial is taking place in Sherbrooke, Que., about an hour and a half away from Lac-Mégantic.
A conviction on criminal negligence causing death can carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.
READ MORE: Lac-Mégantic residents call on Trudeau to move forward on rail bypass
The trial is expected to last until Dec. 21.
Comments