The Concord-based company charged with criminal negligence in the deaths of six young people in a south-end Barrie crash last summer will be back in court next month after a brief appearance today.
The construction firm, Condrain Company (1983) Ltd., had its first court appearance Monday morning in connection with criminal charges in the deaths of Haley Marin, Curtis King, Luke West, Jersey Mitchell, River Wells, and Jason Ono-O’Connor, all of whom were in their early 20s.
They were all killed in a fiery crash on McKay Road, between County Road 27 and Veterans Drive, around 6 a.m. on Aug. 27, 2022 when the vehicle they were in plunged into a construction hole in the middle of the closed road.
Condrain's virtual court appearance today didn’t include anyone from the company and it lasted less than a minute as a representative from the company's legal team asked for the matter to put off until more disclosure papers were received from the Crown.
The matter is scheduled to be back in virtual court on March 13 at 9 a.m.
On Jan. 12, Barrie Police Service’s Major Crime Unit announced that it had charged Condrain with six counts of criminal negligence causing death, contrary to Section 220(b) of the Criminal Code of Canada.
Court documents allege the company failed to "properly sign and barricade the temporary road closure of McKay Road between County Road 27 and Veterans Drive as per the traffic management plan and contract with Erritt Construction Ltd.”
According to a family member of one of the victims, the car they were in plummeted into a deep hole — referred to by the city as a “tunnel access shaft” related to the residential development happening in the area — and then caught fire.
Police have said they believe the group was travelling to the nearby Gateway Casinos Innisfil (Georgian Downs), not far from the crash site and just outside the city limits.
On Sunday, Aug. 28, at approximately 2 a.m., while conducting a missing persons investigation, uniformed officers checked the construction zone and located a vehicle in a large hole in the middle of McKay Road, between County Road 27 and Veterans Drive.
