A Horror Story (Not For Halloween)

October 22, 2026

You may recall this news story – on Tuesday, May 31 2022, just before midnight, police were called to a marine vessel collision in the Toronto Harbour just west of the Tommy Thompson Park area. A 30-foot powerboat flipped on the rocks at the Leslie Spit. According to the reports, liquor and speed were involved.

That July, Filip Grkovski, 38, of Mississauga, was arrested and charged with two counts of criminal negligence causing death, four counts of criminal negligence causing bodily harm, two counts of impaired operation causing death, and four counts of impaired operation causing bodily harm. A 30-foot powerboat flipped on the rocks at the Leslie Spit. According to the reports liquor and speed were involved.

But…..

In May 2025, Grkovski was acquitted on all eight charges, including two each of impaired causing death and criminal negligence causing death in the drownings of Megan Wu, 24, and Julio Abrantes, 34 because with no eyewitness to say who was steering and the judge was unable to determine that Grkovski was at the helm when the crash occurred.

But…

Last week the Ontario Court of Appeal set aside the acquittal and ordered a new trial because, according to the Toronto Star report, the Court treated the question too narrowly, failing to consider that Grkovski could still be criminally responsible even if another person was operating the boat at the time of the crash.

I think most boaters would agree that if you’re the captain of the boat, you are in charge and responsible for whatever goes wrong (even if you’re not holding the wheel yourself.)   We’ll see what the court decides.

John Morris, Online Editor