Fifteen-year-old Jeremiah Perry drowned on a school-run camping trip in 2017.Handout
A prosecutor says a Toronto teacher accused in the drowning of a student on a school canoe trip breached his duty of care in his overall approach to planning the excursion.
In delivering her closing submissions, Anna Stanford urged the court to consider the totality of Nicholas Mills’s actions in deciding whether he was criminally negligent in the boy’s death rather than weighing each of the teacher’s decisions individually.
Mr. Mills has pleaded not guilty to criminal negligence causing death in the July 4, 2017, drowning of 15-year-old Jeremiah Perry.
Ms. Stanford alleges Mr. Mills ignored safety rules in planning and carrying out the trip, including in allowing Perry – who she alleges could not swim – to go in the water without a life jacket.
Closing submissions in Mr. Mills’s case began yesterday, with the defence arguing the teacher’s conduct did not meet the threshold for a criminal conviction.
In its submissions yesterday, the defence disputed the allegation that Perry could not swim, saying he would not otherwise have been able to reach the area where he drowned.
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