Accused to testify at trial over Fredericton teen's death at sewage plant

The man accused of criminal negligence resulting in the death of an 18-year-old employee is set to testify Thursday as part of his trial.

After more than two weeks of Crown witness testimony, Jason King will sit in the witness box and testify in his own defence before New Brunswick Court of King's Bench Justice Thomas Christie.

King's lawyer, Patrick Hurley, made the announcement Wednesday after the Crown closed its case after calling on its last witness.

Hurley said King will be the only witness called as the defence sets out its case in connection with Michael Henderson's drowning while at a job site in Fredericton on Aug. 16, 2018.

At the time of Henderson's death, King worked for Springhill Construction Ltd. and was the foreman on a construction project at the city's sewage treatment plant on Barker Street.

Henderson was also an employee of Springhill Construction, part of the crew tasked with building a large concrete pool-like structure, known as a clarifier.

Earlier witnesses have included other workers who were on the site that day, along with first responders who showed up to the incident.

Testimony has revealed that the clarifier had a hole in the middle of it, and at the bottom of that hole was a horizontal pipe running several metres to the bottom of a nearby manhole.

In the weeks leading up to Henderson's death, King discussed plans to use a large inflatable plug to seal the horizontal pipe and fill the manhole with water to test whether the pipe was watertight.

On the morning of Aug. 16, Henderson was tasked with cleaning out the bottom of the hole at the centre of the clarifier.

Colin King, another worker, testified that he and Henderson installed the plug in the pipe at the bottom of the hole, but under the premise it was only to stop water from trickling into the hole while it was being cleaned.

Jason King started filling the manhole with water shortly before noon and kept it running for close to an hour.

Shortly before 1 p.m. that afternoon, the plug slid out of the pipe while Henderson was in the hole, pinning him to the wall as water rose above his head. He'd remain under water for several minutes before first responders were able to free him.

Equipment to inflate plug had leaks, says expert

The large inflatable plug that pinned Henderson inside the hole he was working in has been a major focus of testimony throughout the trial.

That plug, along with the equipment used to inflate it, comprised much of the testimony from Gary Daneff, an expert witness, who investigated what caused the plug to slide out of the pipe.

Daneff said he inspected the plug, along with equipment used to inflate it, such as a hose, a valve, gauges, an air compressor and metal couplings used to connect those pieces together.

Daneff said he found there were leaks in the metal couplings, which would have allowed air to escape from the plug while it was installed in the pipe.

He said this led him to believe the plug slid out of the pipe because of a loss of air pressure, coupled with the force from the water that had been poured into the manhole it was connected to.

On cross-examination Wednesday, Daneff admitted he didn't get an accurate measurement of exactly how much air would have been able to leak out of the metal couplings.

He also admitted that any contaminants inside the pipe, or on the exterior of the plug, could have contributed to it sliding out, but that he had no knowledge of whether any were present at the time of the incident.

Still, Daneff maintained that a loss in air pressure inside the plug was the primary cause of it sliding out.

"That would be, without doubt, the principal factor that permitted it to slide," Daneff said.

Daneff also testified about the manufacturer's manual for the plug, and various warnings and safety precautions that it says should be taken.

The Crown displayed pages from the manual to the court. They discussed the need to brace the plug to ensure it doesn't slide out, which court earlier heard wasn't in place.

Another warning referred to several times in the manual said no one should ever go near the plug while it's holding back water.

King's criminal negligence charge means the Crown has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he either did something, or failed to do something that he had a duty to do, which was a significant contributing factor to Henderson's death.

At the outset of the trial, Crown prosecutor Patrick McGuinty said the question Christie must decide is, "Do King's actions represent a marked and substantial departure from what a reasonable person would have done in the circumstance?"

The trial is expected to resume Thursday morning with King's testimony.