Trial begins for officer charged in Queen of the North sinking

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VANCOUVER -- Nearly seven years after sinking of the Queen of the North, the man who was at the helm of the BC Ferry has gone on trial. Karl Lilgert is charged with criminal negligence causing death.

When the ferry hit rocks near Gil Island in March of 2006, the crew and most passengers made it into lifeboats, but two passengers did not, and their bodies have never been found.

In their opening statement, Lilgert`s lawyers say they will argue the Queen of the North`s faulty navigation system is to blame, not their client.

The Crown told jurors Lilgert did nothing to stop the ship from running aground on Gil Island and that resulted in the deaths of two passengers, Gerald Foisy and Shirley Rosette. But the burden will be on the crown, to prove the couple is dead.

The defence maintains the ship was searched and the captain is expected to testify he was sure no one was still onboard when the ship went down.

Other witnesses will testify they saw the couple in Hartley Bay, where passengers were taken after the sinking.

The Crown is expected to call more than one hundred witnesses over the course of the trial, including passengers and crew members who were on the Queen of the North before it went down in the early hours of March 22nd, 2006.

The Crown lawyer says Lilgert was on the bridge with another crew member, his former girlfriend, when the ship missed a crucial turn.

The ship's second officer is expected to testify that he ran to the bridge after he felt an impact. When he got there, he will tell the court no one was at the helm and the throttles were in full forward position indicating no effort was made to slow the ferry down.

The ship took an hour to sink. Lilgert was charged in March 2010, and pleaded not guilty. His trial is expected to last six months.

For the first time in BC, 14 jurors will be sworn in, in hopes of reducing the chance of a mistrial if some jurers are discharged, and the size of the jury is reduced below 10. That is the minimum number required by law.

The sinking also triggered a class-action lawsuit. More than $350,000 was paid out by BC Ferries and split between several dozen passengers.

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