Jury deliberations begin in trial of human smuggling, frozen migrant family

Jurors began deliberations Friday successful the proceedings of 2 men accused of quality smuggling crossed the Canada-U.S. borderline betwixt Manitoba and Minnesota.

They are tasked with deciding whether to convict oregon acquit Steve Shand and Harshkumar Patel connected 4 charges.

The prosecution says the 2 men were portion of a smuggling ringing that saw Indian nationals brought to Canada past made to locomotion crossed the borderline into the U.S.

During 1 travel connected Jan. 19, 2022, a household of 4 from India froze to decease portion walking crossed a distant agelong of the borderline successful a blizzard.

The bodies of Jagdish Patel, 39; his wife, Vaishaliben Patel, 37; their 11-year-old daughter, Vihangi; and their three-year-old son, Dharmik, were recovered successful a tract successful Manitoba conscionable metres from the border. They were not related to the accused.

Shand’s lawyer has said Shand simply picked up radical and transported them wrong the U.S. and was unaware helium was doing thing illegal.

Harshkumar Patel’s lawyer has argued the prosecution misidentified Patel and he’s not the aforesaid antheral whose substance messages astir organizing borderline crossings were caught by instrumentality enforcement.

The trial, which started Monday, heard grounds from investigators, who said Patel paid Shand and the 2 kept successful interaction during respective smuggling missions.

Some substance messages discussed the frigid upwind successful December of 2021 and January 2022, and others talked astir trying to find radical who became mislaid astatine oregon adjacent the border.

The proceedings besides heard from 1 migrant who survived the aforesaid crossing with the household who died.

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Yash Patel, who is besides not related to the accused antheral with the aforesaid past sanction oregon those who died, said helium was driven successful a van with respective others to an country successful Manitoba adjacent the border.

It was acheronian and windy, and the operator told everyone to get retired and locomotion successful a consecutive enactment until they came crossed a van connected the U.S. side, Patel said.

He testified that helium walked with the radical for astir 10 minutes earlier becoming separated successful blinding snow. Five oregon six hours later, helium said, helium recovered the van successful the U.S, which was stuck successful snow. He got successful to lukewarm up.

He was soon taken into custody by borderline patrol agents, on with the operator — Shand — and different passenger.