The City of Guelph has been found not guilty in the death of Isabel Warren.
Warren, 14, died of head and chest injuries sustained when a privacy wall collapsed in a washroom in a Guelph park in 2009.
The city was charged under the Occupational Health and Safety Act for not ensuring that the wall was safe, but was found not guilty Tuesday morning.
City officials say they hope the court’s decision offers closure to Warren’s family and friends.
“It’s still a tragedy,” Guelph CAO Ann Pappert told CTV.
The judge ruled that the wall was a potential danger to anyone using the washroom, but that because work on the washrooms was done entirely by contractors, the city was not to blame for Warren’s death.
“(The judge) spoke of that we did due diligence, that we were responsible and that our staff followed and relied on the architects and the engineers in this case,” she said.
Warren’s family left the courthouse Tuesday without commenting on the ruling.
Crown attorney David McCaskill says he’s “discouraged” by the judge’s verdict, which, he says, holds nobody to account for the death.
McCaskill adds that the verdict was reached based on legislation as it stood in 2009, which has since been amended.
“We won’t run into this problem in the future,” he said.
Pappert says the city will now focus on determining if it needs to change its practices to prevent a similar incident in the future.
There were no criminal charges laid in Warren’s death. Charges issued against the architect and engineer by the Minstry of Labour were dismissed, but that ruling is currently under appeal.
