Relatives of the victims want a verdict

Photo special collaboration, Caroline Lepage
Jean Paradise was waiting Thursday at the courthouse of Sherbrooke, the verdict of the jury at the trial of the three accused in relation to the explosion of a train in Lac-Mégantic on July 6, 2013. He had to jump into the river to escape the flames.

Caroline Lepage

Thursday, 18 January, 2018 21:11

UPDATE
Thursday, 18 January, 2018 21:11

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SHERBROOKE | relatives Of the victims of the explosion of a train in Lac-Mégantic hope that the jury will hear and render a verdict in the trial of three ex-employees.

The jury had announced on Tuesday to be at an impasse. The judge had asked for a last-ditch effort to agree on a unanimous verdict. For the past two days, the eight men and four women on the jury resumed their deliberations, which suggests that their discussions are progressing. They begin today their ninth day of deliberations.

Good news

This encourages Jean Paradise, one of the survivors of the disaster in Lac-Mégantic.

Since the trial began on 2 October, he attended several sessions of the trial of Thomas Harding, Richard Labrie and Jean Demaître, accused of criminal negligence causing the death of the 47 victims.

Regardless of the verdict, Mr. Paradise is important that a decision is made.

“It’s going to allow everyone to move on to something else,” he says.

In the waiting

According to him, this trial marks a milestone for several Méganticois.

“It seems that people are waiting for a denouement, but I don’t feel that they have a bias “, assesses the one that has seen the oil train sped toward the city centre, on July 6, 2013, before derailing.

With a friend, he climbed a fence and fled into the lake to escape the flames. The two survivors had water up to the neck.

One of the daughters of John Clusiault has also survived the tragedy, but her other child, Kathy, has not had the same luck.

Mr. Clusiault is the only parent of the victim to have attended the trial almost every day. It was nice to better understand the mid-rail, and take knowledge of all of the evidence.

“I have no grudge, neither against the accused or to the Crown “, expresses he.

Nothing will bring back the victims

Several agree that a verdict of guilt does not reduce the victims.

Another survivor, Christian Lafontaine, was at the Musicafé in that night arsonist who took his brother and two sisters-in-law. It is estimated that Mr. Harding may be a share of responsibility in the drama, but he is little interested in the verdict.

“It doesn’t send them to prison,” he argued.

Mr. Lafontaine wants that the government tightens the regulation, to avoid other similar dramas.

“Park trains up an incline, it does not. Put them in the bottom of the coast “, pleads the one who can still see the convoy parked in Nantes, with the engine based.