FERGUS FALLS — A human smuggling trial has heard from a migrant who survived walking in a blizzard across the Canada-United States border on the same day a family of four froze to death.
Yash Patel said he arrived in Toronto from India in December 2021 and was sent to Vancouver, back to Toronto, then to a house in Winnipeg.
Patel says he got separated from the group and walked alone for five or six hours until he found another van waiting for him."It was snowing and it was very windy," Patel, 23, said through an interpreter Wednesday at the trial in Fergus Falls, Minn. Hours later, RCMP found the bodies of the family — Jagdish Patel, 39; his wife, Vaishaliben Patel, 37; their 11-year-old daughter, Vihangi; and their three-year-old son, Dharmik. The boy's body was cradled in his father's arms. Patel is a common name in India and the family is not related to others involved in the trial.
Shand's lawyers have argued he was simply a taxi driver who was unaware he was doing anything illegal until the day the family died.Messages shown in court Wednesday show Shand exchanged many messages and phone calls overnight and into the morning with the phone that prosecutors say belonged to Patel.Shand was then instructed to turn his vehicle lights on and off,"so that they can see" and was later told to try to drive further to find people.
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