Collicutt is charged dangerous driving causing the death of Dorothy Mae Mayhew, 67, of Lady Fane, on Oct. 9, 2015. The crash happened at the intersection of Route 10 and Route 1A in Central Bedeque.
Tuesday was day two of a jury trial that is expected to take all week.
Peter Ghiz, is representing Collicutt and the Crown attourney is John Diamond.
Tuesday’s witnesses included RCMP Const. Daniel Comte, who was the first officer on the scene of the crash; RCMP Const. Paul Landry, lead investigator in the case; Dr. Cyril Moyse, provincial coroner; RCMP Cpl. Al Vincent, ranking officer on duty the day of the crash; RCMP Const. Jon Russell, who secured the crash scene while the cars were removed from the scene; and Albin Arsenault, the technician who inspected both vehicles post crash at the behest of the RCMP.
Arsenault testified that, as far as he could tell given the damage caused by the crash, both vehicles were in good prior condition.
The person who spent the most time on the stand was Const. Paul Landry.
In his testimony, Landry said there were no grounds to suspect Collicutt had been under the influence of any kind of substance or that he was using a cell phone prior to the crash.
He also noted that RCMP could not locate anyone who had witnessed the crash, only people who had come upon it shortly after it happened.
Landry said the lack of skid-marks on the road indicated neither car attempted to break prior to the crash.
He touched on an item that the Crown indicated will play an important role in the case, a data recorder that was retrieved from the 2006 Chevy Impala Collicutt was driving. The 2000 Toyota Echo that Mayhew was driving had no such data recording device.
Landry testified that the Impala recorder’s data could not be retrieved by usual means because of damage to the vehicle, so the device had to be physically removed from the car and sent to an expert to be read.
He also said the report he got back pertaining to the data recorder indicated the Impala was travelling above the posted speed limit of 80 km/h just before the crash.
Judge Tracey Clements cautioned the jury that Landry’s comment regarding the data on the device could not be considered evidence yet, as it was from a second-hand source.
The RCMP expert who examined the data device is still slated to testify and it’s expected they will be called on to elaborate on their report.
During cross-examination, Ghiz pressed Landry on whether he knew for sure the technician at Johnston’s Towing in Bedeque was qualified to remove the device.
Landry answered that he did not ask specifically, but that Johnston’s has done this service successfully for RCMP in the past.
Ghiz also wanted to know if Landry had inquired with the company as to whether anyone had tried to tamper with the device between when it was removed and when he picked it up and if there were any other data recording devices in the office at the same time.
Landry said he did not ask those specific questions when he picked up the device.
The trial resumes Wednesday at Prince County Courthouse at 9:30 a.m.
@JournalPMacLean
