BRACEBRIDGE, Ont. - Two former golf club executives charged after an alcohol-fuelled car crash killed three young men in Ontario's cottage country were cleared of any wrongdoing Tuesday after the Crown conceded the two weren't working for the club when the men reportedly drank there.
The move, which came during the first court appearance since 34 charges were laid under the Liquor Licence Act earlier this month, leaves 14 people facing charges for allegedly allowing drunkenness and continuing to serve apparently intoxicated individuals.
Police have said alcohol and speed were definitely factors in the drowning deaths of Tyler Mulcahy, 20, Cory Mintz, 20, and Kourosh Totonchian, 19, all of Toronto. Mulcahy's girlfriend, Nastasia Elzinga, was able to escape after the car broke through a guardrail and became submerged in a lake.
One officer described the crash as the worst he'd ever seen.
While Murray Blair and Jim Molenhuis were once vice presidents at Clublink Corp., which owns the Lake Joseph Club in Muskoka Lakes Township, they were no longer with the company when the incident occurred on July 3, 2008.
On Tuesday, the Crown withdrew the charges against them.
Court heard that Blair and Molenhuis were charged because their names appeared on a liquor licence that was not updated after they left the company.
The company says it sent a letter requesting that the changes be made, but officials at the Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario say it was never received.
The other charges were scheduled to be dealt with on Tuesday but those cases were adjourned until March 19.
A lawyer for Blair, Molenhuis and 11 other Clublink directors and officers declined to comment on the dropped or outstanding charges.
Food and beverage manager Walter Moon and servers Ian Colterjohn and James Flegg have their own legal representation, who were not in court Tuesday.
Provincial police in Bracebridge laid the 34 charges in the case, which they said represented a significantly large number but not an unprecedented case.
In the months following the crash, Mulcahy's father Tim embarked on a crusade to toughen provincial drinking laws.
He said the four friends paid for 31 drinks before they left the restaurant in the early evening.
In a press release issued last week, he said he's not out to blame anyone for the tragic accident and isn't seeking redemption for his son's death.
"I believe that this case is a very complex one which will likely set a precedent one way or the other on the ultimate responsibility of the serving of alcohol by a licensed establishment," he said.
"I have never held anyone responsible or blamed anyone for the accident, however I do hope that future lives are saved due to this terrible tragedy."
The maximum penalty for a corporation if convicted is a $250,000 fine; an individual would be fined a maximum $100,000, or be imprisoned up to a year, or both.
