14 DAY TRIAL // 16-year-old Georgia Varley lost her life on October 22 at Liverpool’s James Street Station, in the UK, at 10.30 a.m., when, in a drunken stupor, she leaned against a train and fell on its tracks, and was run over.
Christopher McGee, the guard who gave the train driver the go-ahead signal, is facing manslaughter charges in Liverpool Crown Court.
Varley was returning from a night out on the town, having celebrated a friend’s 18th birthday, with vodka. Those who attended the event described that the teenager was by far “the drunkest person at the party.” Police also found traces of mephedrone, or Mcat, in her system.
She stumbled home, coming in from West Kirby, Wirral, and was bound for Liverpool, intending to take the train in James Street Station. Not able to keep her balance, she leaned against the train carriage.
McGee is being accused of failure to ensure passenger safety, as witnesses claim he was well aware of the fact that the girl was intoxicated, and that “she was in contact with the carriage.”
According to the Daily Mail, McGee is pleading not guilty to the charge. His version of the story is that the girl was originally leaning on the train, but that she had stopped, moved away, and, as the train started moving, she approached it again, trying to stop it, banging on its windows, which is what allegedly caused her to fall on the tracks.
Prosecutor Nicholas Johnson is trying to disprove his story, basing his case on CCTV footage in which it was obvious to anyone that the teen was intoxicated, and that the driver couldn't have spotted her. He is treating McGee's alleged negligence as a “criminal act.”
“He gave the signal to the driver when he could not have failed to realise that Georgia was in contact with the train and she was in an intoxicated state. He could see that she had her hands against the train and knowing or at least suspecting that she was worse for drink, he gave the signal for the train to start.
“It was a deliberate act. He must have known that it would subject Georgia to a degree of force which was highly likely to throw her off balance with the consequent risk of injury.
“We say that starting the train was in itself a criminal act. The second thing he did was he failed to countermand the signal when it was clear that Georgia could be dragged under the train with the obvious risk of killing her,” the prosecution argued. The trial continues.