Robert Wood had two opportunities "to recognise the obvious" when he inspected the doomed Elliot Lake mall, but he failed to do that and to take corrective action, the Crown argued Wednesday.
The former engineer examined the Algo Centre Mall in 2009 and 2012, and is on trial for criminal negligence charges stemming from the collapse that killed two women and seriously injured a man more than four years ago.
This case is about a mall that collapsed on June 23, 2012 because of corrosion, killing Lucie Aylwin, 37, and Doloris Perrizzolo, 74, prosecutor David Kirk said in his closing submission.
They died when a portion of the rooftop parking deck collapsed on a lottery kiosk and the food court area.
The focus is on Wood's conduct, his individual actions, his responsibilities and how he went about them, he said, describing Wood's work as "shoddy."
His actions showed a marked departure from the norm, of what a reasonable person would do when faced with similar circumstances, the assistant Crown attorney maintained.
Wood was under a legal duty to do something and failing to do so showed a wanton, reckless disregard for the life and safety of others, Kirk told Superior Court Justice Edward Gareau.
"His work was entirely deficient and shoddy by any objective standard," such as common sense, he said.
The state of the mall post-collapse, revealed in an expert's inspection report prepared for police, gives a snapshot of what it looked like 71 days earlier on April 12, when Wood did his examination of the structure, he said.
Kirk noted that the expert had testified that it was inconceivable that the deterioration and corrosion weren't noticed.
Steel plus leaking water plus de-icer equals corrosion, the prosecutor said.
Local residents, people who had no training, were concerned about the mall's condition and recognized something wasn't right, he reminded Gareau, pointing to a number of Crown witnesses who had taken photographs of the facility.
Bonnie Ladell took a series of pictures that documented clear signs of deterioration 49 days prior to Wood's April 12 inspection "that escaped the critical eye of an engineer," Kirk said.
The now former Elliot Lake resident also took a series of photos on April 13 after she had seen Wood in the mall the previous day and came back with her camera to document what she saw on a walkway and its posts.
The photos showed a hole and rust along a support wall, and she took them because she recognized the problem and "also was able to equate it with a structural element," Kirk said.
He argued that Wood tried to minimize the importance of some structural elements.
"The cumulative weight of what he did and didn't do is going to add up."
Kirk questioned why Wood didn't see the rust spots, suggesting if the woman could see them, why didn't he "or he saw them but couldn't figure out what the problem was."
Photos also showed a cracking concrete block and a steel beam above a door near the Zellers store, but the woman's greatest concern was the kiosk area, which turned out to be where the collapse occurred, he said.
Wood had inspected that area in 2009, but it's difficult to say what he saw and inspected in 2012, Kirk stated.
The Crown pointed to other photos taken by a man on March 25, just 28 days before Wood's 2012 inspection.
He testified that he could look up at the steel beam and could see it was rusted, said Kirk, indicating this was the place that was fireproofed in 2009, yet three years later you could look up and see no fireproofing.
If Wood had taken the time to check that area, which he had examined in 2009, he would have seen that, the assistant Crown attorney said.
This is a major safety issue and someone with Wood's knowledge and expertise could have told someone about it, he argued.
The fireproofing was coming off because of water, Wood knows that and knows that it was a problem, he maintained.
Kirk also referred to another photo that showed a hole near the kiosk two weeks before the cave-in.
He also reminded the court of the other local residents who testified about leaking at the mall that had occurred over a long period of time, bladders collecting water in Zellers, at times up to 100 buckets in the aisles there, and leaking concrete and rust in the store's ceiling.
One witness described the store, the library and the kiosk as the worst areas, and another woman said the library was so bad she didn't go there.
The Crown is continuing it's submission today.
