A witness who was in the vehicle the night Cory Sater allegedly killed two people in a hit-and-run collision said both he and Sater were in a state of shock after the crash.
Lloyd Smith, a friend of Sater's who was in the passenger seat, said he knew almost instantly that the two women who were struck had been killed.
"I was freaking out," he said. "I was in a state of shock."
He later added that "when you are going that fast, the probability of someone surviving that is slim."
Smith told the court that after the collision, he yelled at Sater to stop the vehicle but he continued driving down the Lougheed Highway, eventually parking in the Cape Horn area.
"I have children," Sater kept repeating, according to Smith. "I have to say 'bye' to my children."
The two parked the car near Sater's girlfriend's home. When she did not answer the door, the pair walked to Sater's brother's house.
While they were walking, Smith told the court, he could see police officers shutting down the Lougheed Highway.
"I wanted to go down there," he said. "I just wanted to go back."
"Did you, in fact, go down there?," Crown counsel Christopher McPherson asked him.
"No, I didn't," Smith responded.
When the two arrived at the home of Sater's brother, Leonard, Smith explained what had happened. Eventually, both of them left in separate taxis.
On Wednesday, the court viewed surveillance footage of the two men drinking at a bar at the Lougheed Village Pub in Burnaby with a third man, Troy McClure. There was also video showing the pair leaving the premises and driving out of the bar's parking lot area.
The two left, Smith said, because they wanted to get some money from Sater's house and find another pub at which to drink.
They had already been to Sater's home in the Chilko Drive area of the Lougheed Highway and were returning the North Road neighbourhood when they struck and killed Charlene Reaveley and Lorraine Cruz. The collision left a third victim, Paulo Calimbahin, seriously injured.
On cross examination, Sater's lawyer, Tony Serka, made several attempts to get Smith to say the crash was unavoidable.
The prosecution objected each time, noting the witness was not driving the vehicle and was not in a position to answer the question.
But Smith noted on several occasions that the incident happened quite quickly. He told the court that he felt safe and secure driving with Sater behind the wheel.
The trial continues.
