Witnesses testified about the horrific scene of four-year-old Alexa Middelaer's death on Tuesday, recalling the reaction of the 57-year-old woman accused of killing her with her car.
Carol Ann Berner allegedly hit Middelaer and her aunt Daphne Johnson in May 2008 while the two were feeding a horse at a Delta, B.C., ranch. She pleaded not guilty to four charges, including impaired driving causing death and dangerous driving.
On the second day of Berner's trial, witnesses recalled being at a nearby barbeque when they heard the sound of screeching tires and a loud crash.
Gordon Rasmussen said he ran to the scene and saw a red car crashed into a pole. The driver, Berner, was unharmed. He found Alexa's grandparents nearby in a silver car, neither were seriously injured.
Johanson was conscious under a fence. She asked Rasmussen to "check the baby," who was lying next to a tree, unresponsive.
"I kneeled down beside her and said, ‘Come on, sweetheart. You need to try and take a deep breath,'" Rasmussen said. "She tried, and she made a horrible noise."
Witnesses testified that Berner was led to the side of the road, where she sat down and asked for cigarettes and a telephone. First responder Francis Cook said that Berner "had no urgency to assist."
"I was dumbfounded she didn't ask how the kid was, or the people she had hit, the people in the car. She never spoke of it, not one word at any time," Cook said.
Others testified that Berner was crying, saying she "killed them all."
The Crown intends to show videotaped evidence from two undercover police officers, who allege Berner told them she had drank three glasses of wine before the accident. Rasmussen testified that he did not smell alcohol on Berner or see any liquor bottles at the scene.
The trial is expected to last about four weeks, until June 24.
