Trial continues for Linda O’Leary, charged in boat crash that killed 2 people

An Ontario court will continue to hear testimony Tuesday at the trial of Linda O’Leary, charged in a boat crash that killed two people.

O’Leary, who is the wife of celebrity businessman Kevin O’Leary, has pleaded not guilty to one charge of careless operation of a vessel under the Canada Shipping Act.

Court has heard she was at the helm when the O’Leary boat struck another vessel on Lake Joseph, north of Toronto, the night of Aug. 24, 2019.

Court heard yesterday from a provincial police officer who said Linda O’Leary registered an “alert range” blood alcohol level in a breath test shortly after the incident.

Ontario Provincial Police Const. Michelle Ingham testified O’Leary said she consumed one drink after the crash, not before.

The defence has suggested the other boat did not have its lights on when it was hit.

RELATED:

• Passenger can’t recall which lights were on when vessel struck by O’Leary’s boat

Ingham told the court Monday that she attended the O’Leary boathouse to conduct a preliminary investigation shortly after the crash.

Ingham says she asked O’Leary, who was operating the boat at the time of the collision, to do a breath test after noticing the woman’s eyes appeared glossy and her pupils dilated.

The officer says O’Leary was reluctant to do the test, and told her she had only consumed one alcoholic beverage after the crash, not before.

She says O’Leary’s breath sample indicated a blood alcohol range between 50 and 99 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.

The maximum legal blood alcohol concentration in Canada is 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood.

In Ontario, anything between 50 and 80 milligrams per 100 millilitres of blood is considered a warning range that carries a penalty of a fine and a licence suspension under the Highway Traffic Act for a first offence, though it does not lead to a criminal charge.

“I could tell that she was upset by the news,” the officer testified.

Ingham told the court that earlier in the exchange, O’Leary said she had done “nothing wrong.”

The officer said O’Leary told her “the other boat didn’t have any lights on and she didn’t see it.”

O’Leary also described calling out to the other boat to ask if anyone was injured and not hearing a response, after which she said the other boat took off, the officer recalled.

Gary Poltash, 64, from Florida, died on shore that night, while Suzana Brito, 48, from Uxbridge, Ont., died in hospital a few days later.

An agreed statement of facts read in court on the first day of trial last month says they died as a result of blunt force trauma, to either the head or the head and neck, from being struck by a boat.

The crash also left three people injured.

The operator of the other boat, Richard Ruh, of Orchard Park, N.Y., was also charged in the incident. He faced one count of failing to exhibit a navigation light while underway.

Ruh previously told the court he was issued a ticket and eventually paid the fine after contesting it for more than a year.