Crown Cross Examines Defence Expert Witness
LETHBRIDGE – ‘Probability’ was the key word in Wednesday’s cross examination of Doctor Anny Sauvageau.
The defence for David and Collet Stephan called the former chief medical examiner for the province to the stand as an expert witness Tuesday. She testified that in her opinion, the medical examiner’s cause of death for Ezekiel Stephan was wrong.
Sauvageau stated that the child likely died because the ambulance couldn’t establish an airway quickly, and that it was unrelated to the meningitis he had. She told the court that when the ambulance arrived, Ezekiel had gone just under 12-minutes without breathing, and that he probably would have been fine if the ambulance had been properly equipped to offer immediate assistance.
When the Crown asked if Collet’s efforts at CPR before meeting the ambulance would have extended the window to save Ezekiel, she said that it might, but that there is no way to be sure as there are a number of variables.