Prosecutors failed to prove Linda O’Leary was operating her boat without proper care or consideration for others when it crashed into another vessel in central Ontario two years ago, a judge ruled Tuesday as he cleared her in the fatal collision.
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O’Leary, the wife of celebrity businessman Kevin O’Leary, was charged with careless operation of a vessel under the Canada Shipping Act following the Aug. 24, 2019 collision on Lake Joseph, north of Toronto.
Linda O’Leary was driving the boat at the time of the crash, with her husband and a friend on board. The group was returning from a dinner party at another cottage, and the court heard that Linda O’Leary was the designated driver.
The other boat, a Nautique, carried a group of friends out on a stargazing excursion, the court was told. The boat belonged to Irv Edwards, who owned a nearby cottage, but his friend, Richard Ruh, was at the helm when the crash took place, the trial heard.
The two vessels collided at the bow, or front, at 11:30 p.m. — an impact that knocked some of the passengers of the Nautique to the floor, court heard. Two people on that boat — Gary Poltash, 64, of Florida, and Suzana Brito, 48, of Uxbridge, Ont. — died of their injuries. Three others were also hurt.
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In delivering his verdict, Ontario Court Justice Richard Humphrey found that the Nautique had its lights off when it was struck, despite testimony from passengers who said some of the lights were on.
The lights were a central issue during the trial, with the defence arguing that the Nautique was essentially invisible to O’Leary until after the collision.
Humphrey noted Tuesday that security videos taken from the O’Leary and Edwards cottages “make it clear” the Nautique’s lights were not on when the boats came into contact.
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“The purpose of the venture into the open waters of Lake Joseph by Mr. Edwards and his guests was to acquire an unobstructed view of the night sky without interference from artificial light,” the judge said.
“It defies logic to suggest they would have travelled to that location and activated the lights, the effect of which would have been to defeat their purpose.”
Ruh also testified that he put his sweater over the console lighting to mute it, and later pleaded guilty to failing to exhibit a stern light on a power-driven vessel under the Canada Shipping Act.
