One of four survivors who was trapped inside the cabin of a motorized boat that crashed near Outer Harbour Marina on May 31, 2022, recalled the panic and fear she experienced that night in court Thursday.
“When the boat crashed, we were stuck down there for probably 45 minutes. The boat was slanted. It was completely flopped and sitting on the rock. It was sinking. Thank God we didn’t drown because the rock was able to hold the boat up,” Zaynab Altakawee told court on day four of the trial for Filip Grkovski.
Grkovski, the owner of the boat who was allegedly driving at the time of the collision, is facing eight charges including two counts of criminal negligence causing death and two counts of impaired operation causing death. Megan Wu, 24, of Newmarket, and Julio Abrantes, 34, of Richmond Hill, who were also passengers on board the boat, were killed.
Before the crash, Altakawee said she was sleeping on a bench on deck next to Wu and Abrantes, who were also asleep.
Roughly two minutes prior to the boat hitting rocks and flipping over on Lake Ontario, Altakawee said she went downstairs into the cabin to go to the bathroom after waking up and feeling nauseous.
She testified a friend of Grkovski’s named “Eddie” was driving the boat when she went below the deck. She said Grkovski and Eddie had been taking turns driving on their way back to shore after spending the afternoon and evening tied up with four to five other boats near the Toronto Islands.
Altakawee testified she never had the chance to use the washroom because she was counselling Grkovski’s girlfriend Vanessa, who she said had been fighting with Grkovski. Along with Vanessa, Altakawee said there were two other women in the boat’s cabin.
When the boat flipped, Altakawee told court, “we were just panicking, screaming, crying, trying to get out. Kicking, trying to get out the window. Vanessa was pulling life jackets out.”
Altakawee said she could also hear somebody screaming for help.
“I think it was Eddie but we were the ones stuck on the bottom,” Altakawee said, explaining she found it confusing since Eddie had already gotten out of the boat.
“We could see out of the windows that eventually most of them made it to the rocks and not caring about us sinking. The only person trying to get us out was Filip. He was swimming around the boat. He was trying to pull Vanessa out. He was swimming from window to window. They were kind of saying goodbye to one another. They were saying ‘I love you.’”
She testified her friend Amy told her they had to cut the boat open to get them out. “I was completely incoherent and unconscious,” she said.
Altakawee said until the crash happened, she had not been offered a lifejacket nor did she know where they were kept.
She also testified she saw Grkovski pop open a bottle of champagne and drink from it as they were on their way to the tie-in.
Altakawee, who came to the boat with Wu, said it was her third time on Grkovski’s boat. She said that she and Wu wanted to return home earlier but Grkovski and his girlfriend were fighting and she figured that was the reason for their delay in returning to the marina.
Forensic pathologist Dr. Mahila Khara conducted autopsies on the bodies of both Wu and Abrantes and said neither had suffered significant injuries on their external examination. She said both individuals had heavy, wet lungs and concluded that their cause of death was drowning.
Khara also found that toxicology detected cocaine, prescription medication and alcohol in Wu’s blood. She said Abrantes’ toxicology detected alcohol in a minor concentration.
During cross-examination, defence lawyer Alan Gold asked about Khara’s wording in her report that stated the contribution of the intoxicants to the cause of death is “unclear.”
“It’s clear intoxication did have some contribution to her (Wu’s) death?” Gold suggested. Khara replied, “I can’t exclude that.”
Gold asked if she could have written in her report “drowning with intoxication.” Khara responded: “No, because in my opinion the cause of death is drowning.”
Cara Shepard, the toxicologist who analyzed Grkovski’s blood, testified that based on Grkovski’s blood alcohol concentration (BAC) at the time of the crash, she believes an individual would have been impaired operating a conveyance at the time.
Court heard Grkovski’s blood was drawn in hospital at 4:33 am on June 1, 2022. Based on the hospital’s analysis of the blood and Shepard’s own test of the blood done at the Centre for Forensic Sciences, she predicted that Grkovski’s BAC between 11:46-11:53 p.m. would be between 90-159 mg/100 ml of blood and 85-154 mg/100 ml of blood.
“It is my opinion that impairment with respect to motorized watercrafts become significant with a BAC of about 50 and increases there on. It will be both dependent on both the BAC and their tolerance of experience with alcohol,” Shepard explained.
The toxicology report also found an inactive metabolite in Grkovski’s blood that indicated he had used cocaine a day or two before the accident.
“I’m not able to make any finding as to whether cocaine would have had an effect on impairment,” she added.
Grkovski has pleaded not guilty. The trial continues.