Lac-Megantic trial:one defence lawyer distances client from railway company
SHERBROOKE, Que. — The lawyer for one of three men charged with criminal negligence in the deadly Lac-Megantic train derailment tried to distance his client Thursday from the railway at the heart of the 2013 disaster.
In his closing arguments, Gaetan Bourassa told jurors that Jean Demaitre, the manager of train operations that fateful night, had no say in safety-related decisions made in the United States by the parent company of Montreal, Maine and Atlantic Railway.
MMA’s reputation in Quebec has been all but irredeemably tarnished since a runaway train owned by the company and carrying crude oil derailed in Lac-Megantic and exploded, killing 47 people and destroying part of the downtown core.
“Do not associate Jean Demaitre with the company,” Bourassa told the jury. “There is a mammoth distinction between the two.”