MONTREAL -- A young Quebec driver on trial in the deaths of two motorcyclists wasn't just trying to shoo ducks off a highway when a fatal collision happened -- she says she planned to bring them home.
Emma Czornobaj recounted her version of the events of June 27, 2010, that led to the deaths of a father and his teenage daughter after they slammed into her stopped car south of Montreal.
The 25-year-old is charged with two counts each of criminal negligence causing death and dangerous driving causing the deaths of Andre Roy, 50, and his 16-year-old daughter, Jessie, after stopping her car to tend to ducks.
Czornobaj told her jury trial in Montreal on Tuesday that she was returning from housesitting for a boss when she happened on several ducklings on the side of a highway.
She told the court she decided to pick up the ducklings and pulled over as far as she could in the left lane, even though there was no full shoulder allowing her to move over completely.
She repeated several times in her testimony that she put on her hazard lights.
Crown eyewitnesses have said they didn't see any flashing lights on the car. A crash investigator noted the hazard light was turned on when he inspected Czornobaj's vehicle, but couldn't say if it was done before or after the collision.
Czornobaj testified that the highway wasn't busy and that she checked before stopping, with one car easily going around her as she slowed down.
"I just wanted to pick all these ducklings up and put them in my car," Czornobaj testified. "I know it was a mistake.
"They're so small, so I thought I could just pick them up and put them in my car and drive away."
But they scurried away. Realizing she wouldn't be able to catch them, she turned back and walked towards the car.
"I had just turned around, walked a few steps and then the accident happened," Czornobaj said, choking back tears. "I saw the motorcycle drive into my car."
She cried as she told the court about watching Jessie Roy propelled through the air on impact. The court has heard she fell in front of the car and was run over when the impact pushed the vehicle forward.
The accused estimated the entire scene took about 20 seconds to play out. Czornobaj said she spoke to her parents from the scene, but didn't give them details.
The Crown keyed in on this during cross-examination.
"I was upset, I was in shock and I think I started getting upset," Czornobaj said. "I couldn't talk very long on the phone. I was upset about what I saw."
"Were you upset about what you did?" asked Crown prosecutor Annie-Claude Chasse.
"No, I was upset about what I saw," Czornobaj said.
The financial analyst has been unemployed for more than a year with charges looming large. She has no previous record and has only lost two demerit points since earning her driver's licence at age 18.
The defence has tried to suggest that speed may have played a part in the accident. The Crown has countered that a reasonable and prudent person would not have stopped their car on a highway for ducks.
Samuel Beaudet, a police expert witness for the Crown, testified earlier that Andre Roy was likely going about 115 km/h at the moment he applied his brakes and managed to slow down to 105 km/h at the time of impact. The speed limit on that stretch of highway is 90 km/h.
While cross-examining Beaudet, defence lawyer Marc Labelle keyed in on the part of the province's highway safety code which states that stopping on the highway is forbidden except in the case of a "necessity."
Labelle noted the code doesn't spell out what that necessity is. Beaudet acknowledged his point but attempted to clarify the law.
"There is no definition provided in the Act for the term 'necessity,' but effectively, if there is a necessity, you can stop," Beaudet said. He was the last Crown witness before the accused took the stand.
The jury is composed of 10 men and two women and Czornobaj is expected to be the only defence witness called.
Czornobaj returns to the stand on Wednesday.
