VANCOUVER — B.C.'s highest court is set to hear the case of the navigating officer who was on the bridge of a provincial passenger ferry the night the vessel sank, killing two people.
Karl Lilgert was convicted last year and sentenced to four years imprisonment for criminal negligence causing death for the March 2006 sinking of the Queen of the North.
His lawyer filed an appeal soon after, arguing the judge made numerous mistakes in her instructions to the jury, and the B.C. Appeal Court is scheduled to hear the case beginning today.
Lilgert was the navigating officer on the bridge when the vessel missed a scheduled turn and hit a remote island, sinking in the early morning of March 22, 2006.
Passengers Gerald Foisy and Shirley Rosette were never seen again and presumed drowned.
Lilgert's trial heard he was on the bridge with his ex-lover, and the Crown suggested he missed the turn because the pair were either arguing or possibly having sex, which Lilgert denied.
