A Nova Scotia judge has stayed manslaughter charges against two former managers of the Westray coal mine where an explosion killed 26 men on May 9, 1992.
The judge’s decision ended the prosecution of Roger Parry and Gerald Phillips, although the Crown still has the right to appeal the judge’s ruling.
The judge’s 41-page decision severely criticized the conduct of the Crown prosecutors in several areas, including allowing the case “to fall into disarray.”
In his comments, Judge Robert Anderson of the Nova Scotia Supreme Court said justice was being “sacrificed on the altar of public and political pressure.” Specifically, he found that the Crown had failed to disclose several key pieces of evidence to defence lawyers and that this lack of disclosure violated the rights of the men to answer the charges against them.
The stay of criminal proceedings against the former mine managers paves the way for the Westray mine public inquiry, stalled three years ago, to move forward. The commissioner is now seeking to obtain relevant documents that had been withheld from this inquiry.
The 1992 explosion is believed to have been triggered by a buildup of methane, which ignited coal dust in the underground mine.
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