Canada

Man arrested in fatal python case to appear in court in April

Mounties say the 38-year-old Montreal man will appear in provincial court in Campbellton, N.B.

FREDERICTON – The RCMP say the man arrested in connection with the deaths of two boys killed by a python in New Brunswick has been released from custody and ordered to appear in court April 27.

The Mounties say the 38-year-old Montreal man will appear in provincial court in Campbellton, N.B., when the details of the charge or charges he faces will be released.

The RCMP have not released the man’s identity.

But the lawyer who represents the man who owned the snake said Thursday it was his client who was arrested.

Leslie Matchim said Jean-Claude Savoie was arrested in the Montreal area and was yet to be charged.

Four-year-old Noah Barthe and his six-year-old brother Connor were found dead on Aug. 5, 2013, after an African rock python escaped its enclosure inside Savoie’s apartment in Campbellton, where they were staying for a sleepover.

Autopsies concluded that the boys died from asphyxiation.

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