AN Island Energy employee, on trial for ten counts of manslaughter, was “white”, “shivering” and “sitting in a shipping container” in the aftermath of the Haut du Mont explosion.
Neil Armstrong (58), John Wright (60) and Lee Ward (59) are accused of unlawfully killing the ten victims of the blast on 10 December 2022. The three men, who worked together in the network operations team at Island Energy at the time of the blast, each deny ten counts of gross negligence manslaughter.
Jersey Gas, which trades as Island Energy, also denies two alleged breaches of the Health and Safety at Work (Jersey) Law 1989.
Giving evidence on Tuesday, Louis Savage – an operations service lead for Island Energy on 10 December 2022 – told the jury that a Christmas party was planned at the St Helier Yacht Club on 9 December.
“We were trying to restore the gas before the party started,” he explained to Advocate Simon Thomas, prosecuting.
He was asked why he told the Yacht Club manager that their gas would be restored by the time of the “party”, despite the “complexities” of the reconnection process.
Mr Savage replied that he had been given the green light by Mr Armstrong.
“We didn’t think it was as big a job as I was”, he told jurors.
He added that after the Haut du Mont explosion the following morning, he immediately went to the Island Energy “yard” after being released by the fire service.
The court heard that he saw Mr Armstrong standing “by the doorway to his office”, looking “distressed” and with his “head in his hands”.
He said that the defendant asked him: “Anyone been hurt up at the site?” to which he lied, telling Mr Armstrong that he “didn’t know”.
“Did you know?”, the prosecutor enquired.
“The building was gone, so I had a good idea, yes”, Mr Savage said.
Jurors were told that Mr Savage visited Mr Armstrong later that day “to see how his welfare was” and found his colleague “sitting in a shipping container”.
“He was white, stressed, quiet, shivering,” Mr Savage recalled. “I said that someone needs to get him in [the office] and not leave him out there.”
Commissioner Andrew Oldland is presiding.
The trial continues.
