Brothers sentenced over e.coli deaths

Two brothers who ran a water system that became contaminated with e.coli bacteria, killing seven people and affecting 2,300 others, were sentenced today for their role in one of Canada’s worst public health disasters.

Stan Koebel, the former manager of a town’s utilities commission, was jailed for a year, while his brother Frank was sentenced to nine months of house arrest.

Flooding on May 12, 2000, washed cattle manure into a town well in Walkerton, Ontario, a farming community 90 miles west of Toronto.

Within days, people were hit by diarrhoea, nausea and other symptoms of e.coli contamination.

Residents had to boil their tap water or rely on bottled water for almost seven months.

Justice Bruce Durno, of Ontario Superior Court, suggested the brothers were not solely to blame for the tragedy but sentenced them because they faked water reports and failed to initially disclose problems with the water to officials.

An inquiry found that the Koebel brothers lacked the training and education for the job and lied to authorities to protect themselves.

The brothers were charged with public endangerment, fraud and breach of trust, but during a plea bargain in November they admitted a lesser charge that carried a maximum penalty of two years.

Their lawyer Bill Trudel said he was disappointed with the sentence and would consider an appeal.