Crown closes its case in Colin Tweedie re-trial

Final day of testimony at Colin Tweedie re-trial Tuesday was the final day of testimony in the re-trial of Colin Tweedie in Sydney, N.S.

After five days of testimony and hearing from a dozen witnesses, the Crown closed its case on Tuesday in the re-trial of Colin Tweedie.

The 32-year-old Cape Breton man is charged in connection with the hit-and-run death of 10-year-old Talia Forrest on July 11, 2019, while she was riding her bicycle along the Black Rock Road in Black Rock, N.S.

Tweedie faces charges of dangerous driving causing death, impaired driving causing death and leaving the scene of an accident.

He was acquitted on those charges two years ago, but the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal overturned the decision and ordered a new trial.

On Tuesday, the Crown played a reenactment video from when RCMP officers took Tweedie back to the scene the day after the fatal crash.

In the recording, Tweedie told officers he didn't stop because he thought he had hit a deer, and wanted to make it home rather than risk having the vehicle break down on the side of the road.

He said later that he and his girlfriend started walking back up the road to see if they could find the deer and that's when he saw police and heard sirens.

Tweedie added in the recording that it wasn't until he was in the back of a police car that he first heard a person had been hit.

Tweedie said a couple of times in the video that the road where the crash happened was 'a really rough road.'

When asked if there was anything else investigators should know, he added that it was dark at the time and his windshield was dirty.

Crown witnesses in the second trial included the other girl who was riding her bike with Talia Forrest when the crash happened ,along with neighbours and first responders who attended the scene, a forensic pathologist and an RCMP accident reconstructionist.

The Defence did not call any of its own witnesses.

The Crown and Defence jointly asked for time to prepare final submissions.

Both sides will make final submissions when proceedings resume at the Sydney Justice Centre on March 26.

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