Queen of the North officer denies having sex before sinking

The former BC Ferries officer on trial for the sinking of the Queen of the North lied about what happened because he was distracted by his "personal business" with a female crewmate, the Crown prosecutor told a B.C. Supreme Court jury in Vancouver.

Prosecutor Mike Huot wrapped up his cross-examination of Karl Lilgert Thursday by suggesting the former officer fabricated his testimony that he made a course change to avoid a small boat because he was either having sex or a heated argument with his former lover, quartermaster Karen Bricker.

Huot looked at Lilgert and declared, "I suggest you have concocted everything you have testified about, from the moment of your last call in, to the moment of impact."

Lilgert, who was the officer in charge of the ship at the time, has been charged with two counts of criminal negligence causing death after two passengers died when the ferry hit the shore of Gil Island and sank in March 2006.

Huot accused the experienced mariner of failing to navigate the ship that night and disregarding basic seamanship, saying his story that he spotted a small vessel during a squall doesn't add up.  

But Lilgert denied the prosecutor's allegations. He told the jury that while he and Bricker had sex on board the Queen of the North, it was always while the pair was off-duty. He denied emphatically they had sex the night of the sinking.

The 59-year-old former navigation officer said he was doing everything he was supposed to do to the best of his ability that night, and seven years later he still has no explanation for what happened.

Final submissions in the trial are set for next week.