A Liberal MLA claims the New Brunswick government has decided not to lay charges in the deaths of two young boys killed by an African rock python in Campbellton.
Donald Arseneault says Natural Resources Minister Paul Robichaud told him the government wouldn’t be laying charges in the case, and neither would the RCMP.
Noah Barthe, 4, and Connor Barthe, 6, died in August, 2013 after an African rock python escaped its enclosure and suffocated the brothers as they slept.
The snake was being kept illegally and the RCMP launched an investigation after the incident.
The New Brunswick government also promised to look at exotic pet regulations, but said its own review would have to wait until the RCMP had wrapped up its investigation.
“His department has six months in order to lay charges and that six months has passed and there has been no request to the courts for an extension of that six months,” says Arseneault.
“So that tells me there's no charges being laid by the Department of Natural Resources. Why is that?"
The Department of Natural Resources says it won’t proceed until the RCMP investigation is complete.
In April, the Mounties told CTV News their investigation was in its final stages.
With files from CTV Atlantic's Andy Campbell
