Filip Grkovski denies he was driving the ill-fated motor boat that crashed into rocks off Outer Harbour Marina on Lake Ontario just before midnight on May 31, 2022, resulting in the deaths of two passengers onboard.
“Who was driving the boat when the accident happened?” asked defence lawyer Alan Gold. Grkovski replied, “Eddie,” referring to his friend Edward Denkha who has already testified as a Crown witness at trial.
The 41-year-old Mississauga man is charged with eight alleged offences, including two counts of impaired operation and criminal negligence causing death.
Grkovski said he co-owned the 30-foot Doral 300 and said he was captain of the boat that day. He said he trusted his friend to take the boat into the marina after an afternoon and evening spent drinking while tied up with four to five other boats near the Toronto Islands.
Grkovski said he had four to five drinks that afternoon but said he stopped drinking around 8 p.m. and had not consumed cocaine that day but a day and a half before. He also denied there was any cocaine on the boat.
He told court that he backed out of the tie-up around 11:15 p.m. and was at the helm until the boat approached the Cabana pool bar when he asked Denkha to take control.
Grkovski explained a friend of his girlfriend Vanessa came upstairs from the cabin below deck and told him Vanessa wanted to talk to him. Other passengers have testified Grkovski and his girlfriend had been arguing throughout the boat ride but Grkovski denied that they were still arguing.
Grkovski said Denkha took over the wheel near the Cabana Bar and he went downstairs shortly before coming back up as they were approaching the channel between the inner harbour and the outer harbour. Grkovski said when he came back up, he didn’t take back the helm but started talking to Denkha about the boat because he was interested in buying it.
“He’s driving, I’m standing beside him and explaining gauges, gas, buttons. He goes, ‘I know, I have the same-sized boat,’” he testified.
“Then, he increases the speed. I turned right and looked at the girls. Andrea and Kristina were sitting there. I turned back. I said, ‘You can’t drive fast here. This is the harbour, plus there’s a police station,’” recalled Grkovski.
“He said, ‘I know, I know,’” added Grkovski, who said he pointed out to Denkha where the big red light is close to the mouth of the channel.
Defence lawyer Alan Gold asked, “What happens there?” Grkovski answered, “I told him, ‘At the light, make a left and then you see that big white light, that’s our marina.’ He goes, ‘I know, I know.’”
Grkovski said he then went back downstairs.
“Now, I’m not operating the boat. He’s fine. He knows where to go. I’m not the captain anymore,” he explained. “I go downstairs. I sit down at the table and I continue talking to Vanessa. Zaynab comes down, says, ‘I’m feeling nauseous. He’s driving fast. He’s making waves’ and she sits down.”
Gold asked him what happened next.
“I go upstairs. As I’m going up, I’m turning around and boom, there was no time to react,” he said, saying that is when the boat crashed. Gold asked Grkovski if he had been upstairs, whether he would have allowed him to drive fast. Grkovski said he would not have.
Gold then asked if the boat should have been near the rocks. Grkovski replied that it should not, explaining that he had driven that path many times and said Denkha should not have been near the rocks.
He also testified that there were 11 lifejackets on board and said it wasn’t customary for people to wear lifejackets, and said passengers knew where they were located. “I told everyone to take off their shoes and put them where the lifejackets were,” Grkovski explained.
During cross-examination, assistant Crown attorney Jackson Foreman suggested that Grkovski left the tie-up late because he was impaired and wanted to sober up.
“You heard the toxicologist testified that your blood alcohol content (BAC) was 85-159. I’m going to suggest you had more than four to five drinks. Is it possible you were mistaken?”
Foreman suggested that Grkovski had more to drink than usual and was doing cocaine because he was fighting with Vanessa.
Denkha has already testified that Grkovski asked him to take the wheel just before the crash but he refused. He told court Grkovski went below deck and when he came up, Denkha testified Grkovski looked really angry.
“He floored the boat. I said, ‘Slow down, the front of the boat is lifting up. You need to slow down,’ and two minutes later, that was the crash.”
Foreman suggested to Grkovski that he was upset because he had been fighting with Vanessa and that he was distracted and not paying attention to the water.
Initially, Grkovski agreed with Foreman that as the captain, he was responsible for the safety of the passengers on his boat, but later replied when asked again, “I’m not sure.”
“Would you at least agree that it was not responsible for you to drink the amount of alcohol you did while in the care and control of that vessel?” asked Foreman. “I’m not sure,” replied Grkovski.
“I’m going to suggest you likely wouldn’t have given Eddie control of the boat in those circumstances had you been sober,” Foreman said.
“As the captain, that was criminally negligent. Just hearing that, does that change your answer as to where you were at the time of the crash?” Howard asked Grkovski.
“In my view, giving the boat to Eddie was criminally negligent,” Foreman concluded.
Megan Wu, 24, and 36-year-old Julio Abrantes drowned after they were trapped beneath the overturned vessel.
Closing submissions will be heard on Wednesday.