Jury finds Queen of the North Navigator Karl Lilgert guilty
Posted May 13, 2013 6:40 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
VANCOUVER (NEWS1130) – A jury has convicted navigating officer Karl Lilgert of criminal negligence causing death in the sinking of the Queen of the North passenger ferry.
Lilgert was on the bridge when the ferry missed a turn and struck an island off British Columbia’s northern coast on March 22, 2006, sinking and leaving two passengers missing.
The 59-year-old was charged in 2010, but his trial didn’t begin until January of this year.
“It’s certainly been an unusual and long case, it was also a case that involved a significant amount of work by the investigators, both police and Transport Canada. It was obviously not a typical criminal investigation, some of the evidence was located on the bottom of the ocean,” says Crown spokesman Neil Mackenzie.
Jurors have been deliberating since last Tuesday and earlier Monday, returned to court to ask questions related to whether Lilgert directly caused the deaths of the two missing.
Mackenzie says sentencing will take place in late June but for these charges there is a maximum of life in prison. “When considering an appropriate sentence the court will look at the maximum sentence available under the criminal code, they also look at what sentences have been imposed in comparable cases, they also look at the background of the individual who has been convicted and ultimately those are all factors the court will have to take into account.”
Gerald Foisy and Shirley Rosette, a common-law couple from 108 Mile House have not been seen since the sinking and have been presumed drowned.
The Crown alleged Lilgert neglected his duties when the he missed a turn and then failed to take evasive action or slow the ship down, while Lilgert testified he was doing everything he could to navigate the ship through rough weather, and his lawyers blamed unreliable equipment and poor policies within BC Ferries.
