One of the four survivors who were trapped inside the cabin of a motorized boat that crashed near the outer port marina on May 31, 2022, remembers the panic and the fear she had lived that night court THURSDAY.
“When the boat crashed, we were stuck there for probably 45 minutes. The boat was tilted. It was completely flopped and seated on the rock. It was flowing. God thank you, we did not drowns because the rock was able to hold the boat,” said Zaynab Altakawee in court on four days of the trial for Filip GKOVSKI.
The owner of the boat who would have led at the time of the collision, faces eight counts, including two leaders of criminal negligence, causing death and two altered operating charges causing death. Megan Wu, 24, from Newmarket, and Julio Abrantes, 34, from Richmond Hill, who were also passengers aboard the boat, were killed.
Before the accident, Altakawee said that she was sleeping on a bench on the bridge next to Wu and Abrant, who also slept.
About two minutes before the boat, hitting the rocks and turning to Lake Ontario, Altakawee said that she went down to the cabin to go to the toilet after waking up and feeling nauseous.
She testified that a friend of GKOVSKI named “Eddie” led the boat when she went under the bridge. She said that GKOVSKI and Eddie had turned on the road to the way after spending the afternoon and the evening equally with four to five other boats near the Toronto Islands.
Altakawee testified that she had never had the chance to use the toilet because she advised Grkovski’s girlfriend Vanessa, who, she said, was fighting with GKOVSKI. With Vanessa, Altakawee said there were two other women in the boat cabin.
When the boat turned around, Altakawee told the court: “We panic, cry, crying, trying to go out. Kicking, trying to leave the window. Vanessa pulled life vests. “
Altakawee said she could also hear someone cry for help.
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“I think it was Eddie but we were those stuck below,” said Altakawee, explaining that she had found it confusing because Eddie had already left the boat.
We could see through the windows that most of them finally arrived at the rocks and did not worry that we were running.
She testified that her friend Amy told her that they had to cut the open boat to take them out. “I was completely inconsistent and unconscious,” she said.
Altakawee said that until the accident occurred, she hadn’t offered her a life jacket and she did not know where they were kept.
She also testified that she had seen GKOVSKI open a bottle of champagne and drink it while they were on the way to the link.
Altakawee, who came to the boat with Wu, said that it was his third time on the Boat of GKOVSKI. She said that she and Wu wanted to go home earlier, but GKOVSKI and her girlfriend were fighting and she thought it was the reason for their delay in the Marina.
The medico-legal pathologist, Dr. Mahila Khara, made autopsies on the bodies of WU and abrants and said that none of the two had suffered significant injuries during their external exam. She said that the two individuals had heavy and humid lungs and concluded that their cause of death was drowned.
Khara also noted that toxicology detected cocaine, prescription drugs and alcohol in Wu’s blood. She said that the toxicology of abrantins has detected alcohol at a minor concentration.
During the counter-examination, the defense lawyer, Alan Gold, asked the formulation of Khara in his report which indicated that the contribution of the intoxicants to the cause of the death is “clear”.
“It is clear that poisoning had a contribution to his death (WU)?” Gold suggested. Khara replied: “I cannot exclude this.”
Gold asked if she could have written in her report “drowning with intoxication”. Khara replied: “No, because in my opinion, the cause of death is drowned.”
Cara Shepard, the toxicologist who analyzed the blood of GKOVSKI, testified that on the basis of the concentration of blood alcohol level (BAC) of GKOVSKI at the time of the accident, she thinks that an individual would have been altered by exploiting a transmission at the time.
The Tribunal heard that the blood of Grkovski was taken from the hospital at 4:33 am on June 1, 2022. On the basis of the analysis of the blood hospital and the own Shepard of the blood test carried out at the Center for Forensic Sciences, she predicted that Grkovski de Grkovski between 11: 46-11: 53 PM
“I think that the impairment with regard to motorized motorcycles becomes significant with a tank of around 50 and increases there. It will depend both on the OBC and its tolerance to the alcohol experience,” said Shepard.
The toxicology report also found an inactive metabolite in the blood of Grkovski which indicated that he had consumed cocaine a day or two before the accident.
“I am unable to conclude if cocaine would have had an effect on the deficiency,” she added.
GKOVSKI pleaded not guilty. The trial continues.
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