Jury hears Jean-Claude Savoie's panicked 911 call about python deaths

The jury at Jean-Claude Savoie's criminal negligence trial in the python deaths of Connor and Noah Barthe three years ago heard his panicked 911 call on Tuesday.

"Two kids are dead," Savoie told the dispatcher. 

"A python got out and killed the two kids."

"A python?" asked the dispatcher.

Savoie cut the dispatcher off, saying the snake was still loose and he had to catch it; there was another child still in the building.

He asked them to send someone to help, then walked away from the phone.

When first responders arrived at the scene, they found Savoie outside Reptile Ocean with what appeared to be blood on his shirt, and the lifeless bodies of the young brothers inside his apartment above the store, the courtroom heard.

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Six-year-old Connor had wounds all over his body, RCMP Const. Stephane Dugas testified. Noah, aged four, was blue in colour, he said.

Both boys had snake skin all over them, Dugas said. He quickly realized there was nothing he could do to help them, he said.

The brothers were killed by an African rock python that escaped in Savoie's apartment. Savoie is on trial in Campbellton in connection with their deaths on Aug. 5, 2013.

Savoie became increasingly upset in court on Tuesday, as the 911 call was played. His face grew red, he doubled over and wiped tears from his eyes, sniffling loudly.

Dugas said the snake was still loose when he arrived that night. He accompanied Savoie inside to catch it.

They found the snake in the laundry room and Savoie grabbed it without incident, he said.

Prosecutor Pierre Roussel laid out what the Crown believes happened that day, during his opening remarks to the jury.

The Crown contends the snake escaped the room it was in via an air duct in the ceiling and he will introduce DNA evidence to that effect, he said.

Roussel contends Savoie knew the python was aggressive and had a history of trying to escape its enclosure.

Justice Frederick Ferguson spent much of the morning instructing the eight women, four men of the jury about their responsibilities in the case.

"Sentencing has nothing to do with your task," said Ferguson.

The justice also cautioned the jury not to research or investigate the case on their own, and to base their verdict on what is presented in court.

Ferguson broke down what was necessary for the Crown to prove criminal negligence in the trial.

The Crown has to prove Savoie had a legal duty to care and protect the Barthe brothers, he failed to do so and thus showed wanton and reckless disregard for their lives in that failure.

The Crown will also have to show that Savoie's action showed a marked and substantial departure from the actions of a reasonable person.

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