Inside courtroom 32 at the Ottawa Courthouse, Andy Nevin’s family wiped away tears. For the last three years they’ve had to live life without their partner, father, son and friend.
Nevin, a father of two, was cycling along Leitrim Road in south-Ottawa around 5:45am Sunday June 28, 2015. That bike ride would be his last. Nevin was struck by a vehicle, thrown from his bike, left to die in a ditch. The driver fled.
It wasn’t until a week later that Ottawa man Deinsberg St. Hilaire, 42, was arrested and charged in connection with Nevin’s death. Now after, more than three years of waiting and court delays, St. Hilaire’s trial is underway in an Ottawa courtroom.
Crown Attorney Lisa Miles, led Ottawa Police Sgt. Jim Killeen through an evidence book on the stand, showing the graphic evidence of Nevin’s bike, what looked to be a tangled mess. His black ball cap and shoe more like debris scattered around the scene. There were also pictures of St. Hilaire’s white Ford F-250 pick-up truck. Obvious damage to the front end, damage Sgt. Killeen says is consistent with the damage on Nevin’s bike.
Two men who live along Leitrim Road were the first to take the stand. Paul Brazeau says he was lying in bed around 5:45am on the early summer day, when he heard a sound, “it was tinny, but it wasn’t loud,” he told the court, “I didn’t hear any brakes at all.”
Brazeau’s neighbour, Randy May, was the next to testify. A tow truck operator, he says he woke up unusually early that day, around 5:30am, went out the back to door to walk his property. It was then he realized he needed some paper work out of his tow-truck, he says he was inside the truck for about a minute, when he exited, he saw the bike at the end of his lane way.
“The bike was destroyed,” May told the court, “as I got closer the hair on my back stood up.”
May recalled how he saw a ball cap and shoe strewn on the ground, it was then he knew something was wrong, he said the bike looked “crushed at the back”. May looked to his right and saw Nevin’s body in the ditch beside his home. He checked for vital signs, there were none, that’s when he ran inside and called 9-1-1.
St. Hilaire, is free on bail, and was sitting in court with supporters by his side. The trial is scheduled to last up to three weeks.
