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Accused failed to call 911 for two dying teens in his Richmond home, court told

Martin Tremblay supplied free drugs and alcohol to two teens but failed to call for help when they became ill, vomited and passed out, a prosecutor said Monday.

Martin Tremblay supplied free drugs and alcohol to two teens but failed to call for help when they became ill, vomited and passed out, a prosecutor said Monday.

Tremblay, who's in his 40s, on Monday pleaded not guilty to criminal negligence causing death in the March 2010 methadone and alcohol overdose deaths of Kayla Lalonde, 16, and Martha Jackson, 17.

In her opening statement, Crown counsel Michaela Donnelly said Tremblay, a serial sex offender, invited the girls to his Richmond home to party.

She said he provided the girls, who had been to his home previously on a number of occasions, with free drugs and alcohol.

The girls became progressively more ill, vomited, then passed out in the home on Smith Crescent.

Tremblay left the home at one point and went to see his landlord in Vancouver.

"You will hear that Mr. Tremblay came back and in due course discovered that Kayla was not breathing. He did not call 911. He did not take her to the hospital," she said.

Instead of calling for help, he phoned a man who supplied him with drugs and said they had a problem, Donnelly told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Bruce Butler.

Tremblay had Lalonde put in a car and, along with another woman - a Crown witness who can't be identified due to a publication ban - drove to a location on Rumble Street in Burnaby to meet the drug dealer.

Lalonde was taken out of the vehicle and put on the ground. Tremblay had a discussion with his drug-dealer friend and Tremblay and the other woman, who was recovering from a binge, left the scene and returned to Tremblay's home.

Only then was a call to 911 made and the fire department and paramedics dispatched to the scene, but Lalonde couldn't be revived.

When Tremblay got home, he did not call 911 for Jackson. Instead, he watched some TV and later went out to a Tim Hortons restaurant with another woman.

Nearly seven hours passed before a 911 call was made. Paramedics arrived shortly but Jackson couldn't be saved.

"Martin Tremblay's actions throughout showed a wanton and reckless disregard for the lives and safety of both Kayla and Martha and were a contributing cause in their deaths," said Donnelly.

The prosecutor said Tremblay had a "legal duty" to help the girls but his failure to do so caused their deaths.

She said witnesses will also testify that Tremblay encouraged other witnesses to cover up the circumstances of the deaths of the two girls.

Donnelly said the effects of methadone and alcohol overdoses can be reversed by medical intervention but in this case medical intervention came too late.

Tremblay was convicted in 2002 of drugging underage aboriginal girls and sexually assaulting them.

He was also convicted in Febru-ary 2011 on drug charges. When he was released from jail in Septem-ber 2011, he was rearrested and charged with seven sex offenc-es involving girls aged 14 to 19. Those charges are being dealt with in a separate trial scheduled to get under way in April.

For more stories, go to www.theprovince.com.