A criminal trial has begun in the Canadian province of New Brunswick over the deaths of two young boys believed to have been suffocated by a 14-foot python.



Connor Barthe, six, and his brother Noah, four, had spent the night at a friend’s house in 2013. Early the next morning, the two were found dead.

Soon after the Royal Canadian Mounted Police alleged the pair had been killed by an African rock python – one of the world’s largest snakes. Police said the python, which was being kept as a pet in the apartment, had escaped its enclosure and slithered into the ventilation system. The weight of the 45kg (99lb) snake collapsed a ventilation shaft, sending the snake crashing into the living room where the two boys were sleeping.

Autopsies later determined the boys died from asphyxiation. “We recognize that this has touched the hearts of people across the world and that people want to know how this could have happened,” RCMP spokesman Alain Tremblay said in a statement at the time. He said the snake, which was put down shortly after the incident, had been found close to the boys’ bodies.

Jean-Claude Savoie, a former pet store owner and owner of the apartment is facing a charge of criminal negligence causing death. Savoie, 39, has pleaded not guilty.

The tragic deaths rocked the small town of Campbellton, population 7,000, in northern New Brunswick and sparked a national debate over whether more should be done to regulate the sale of exotic pets.

In the days following the boys’ deaths, provincial authorities seized 23 banned reptiles from Savoie’s pet store, located beneath his apartment. The animals were sent to zoos in New Brunswick and Ontario. Four American alligators had to be killed after no accredited zoo could be found to house them.

African rock pythons have been banned in New Brunswick since 1992, save for accredited zoos which require a permit to keep the animals. Environment Canada told the Canadian Press that federal officials believed Savoie’s pet store was operating as a zoo and had brought him the snake after it was abandoned at a nearby SPCA. The province has said it wasn’t aware that the snake was being kept in the apartment.

The trial, which began on Monday with jury selection, is expected to last two weeks.