Crown alleges Robert Major solely to blame for 2016 crash that killed his girlfriend and two sons

A Saskatoon prosecutor alleges that Robert Major is the only one to blame for a highway crash Feb. 22, 2016 that killed his girlfriend and two sons.

The Dodge Ram driven by Major T-boned a car hauler semi-tractor loaded with vehicles in the early morning darkness on Highway 16 near Langham. The Crown alleges that Major came off a grid road at a high speed, crossed two lanes and the median before colliding with the semi.

Major is on trial at Court of Queen's Bench in Saskatoon. He's charged with three counts of dangerous driving causing death, three counts of dangerous driving causing bodily harm, three counts of criminal negligence causing death and three counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm.

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​Major's two sons, four-year-old Brendan Major and nine-year-old Theodore Grindon-Cardinal, were killed along with 26-year-old Kimberly Oliverio.

Two other children and another adult survived.

In his opening remarks to the jury, prosecutor Michael Pilon said "this was not an accident, it happened because of a series of actions and omissions that were his doing."

Pilon said that Major was driving 55 kilometres over the limit on a grid road, in the dark, in a truck with six passengers, none wearing seatbelts, while on a cell phone.

"Robert Major is the author of what happened that day," he said.

Pilon said a stop sign that had been knocked down at the point where the grid road met the highway played only a small role in the crash.

A six-page agreed statement of facts read into the record detailed the horrific injuries sustained by the victims, and hinted at the trauma suffered by first responders from Dalmeny and Langham who spent a full three hours pulling the dead and injured from Major's truck, which had been torn in half by the collision.

It was wedged between the semi and trailer, more than a metre off the ground.

"The accused's truck was crushed, and it was so compressed on all sides that the floor tunnel was significantly displaced upwards into the passenger compartment," the document said.

"As a result of the extremely confined interior space, only one rescuer could enter the truck cab."

The Crown's first witness, Shane Larmer, witnessed the crash as he drove on Highway 16 towards Saskatoon that morning.

Larmer testified that he noticed the truck's headlights approaching the highway in the darkness  "at a fairly good rate of speed.

"I had a feeling it wasn't going to stop. It crossed my lanes, and then there was a huge collision."

When asked by Pilon whether he had seen brake lights flashing before the truck crossed the highway, Larmer said "nothing at all.

"It was headlights, headlights, and no indication of stopping."

The trial is scheduled to run two weeks. It resumes Wednesday.