TORONTO -- The two brothers charged in one the country's worst public-health disasters may waive their right to a preliminary hearing and have the case sent straight to trial. Stan and Frank Koebel, who ran the drinking water system in Walkerton when seven people died and 2,500 fell ill in May 2000, face 12 charges of forgery, breach of trust and public endangerment.
"I'm not going to put the public through, or the Crown through, a preliminary hearing if I already know what the evidence is," said Bill Trudell, who acts for Stan Koebel.
"We're working on that, trying to avoid the necessity of a lengthy preliminary hearing, which would cost the taxpayers money and inconvenience witnesses."
Under Canadian law, an accused can demand a preliminary hearing in an effort to discover what evidence the prosecution has.
However, the Crown appears to have turned over all the evidence gathered during a painstaking, three-year police investigation that resulted in the criminal charges against the brothers last April, said Trudell.
As a result, a court hearing set for tomorrow in Walkerton will likely be a short one and the case put over until the end of the month, when the brothers will likely ask to waive the preliminary hearing and have the case heard in Ontario Superior Court.
Crown attorney David Foulds referred questions about a preliminary inquiry to the defence but said he expected the matter to be adjourned tomorrow.
Stan Koebel, former manager of Walkerton Public Utilities Commission, faces seven charges. His younger brother, the utility's former foreman, faces five charges which carry maximum penalties ranging from two to 10 years.
Neither brother has entered a plea.
In May 2000, the rural town's poorly disinfected water system was contaminated with E. coli bacteria from farm runoff.
During an exhaustive judicial inquiry into the tainted water tragedy that followed, the brothers admitted to falsifying records and failing to properly maintain the water system.
The inquiry also blamed the disaster partly on the former Conservative government's cost cutting, and the Ministry of the Environment for failing to enforce its own policies.
Police interviewed more than 3,800 people during their three-year investigation.
