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A jury has found Andrew Berry guilty of second degree murder in the death of his two daughters on Christmas Day in 2017.
Berry was accused of stabbing four-year-old Aubrey Berry and six-year-old Chloe Berry. He pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Police found the two girls deceased in separate bedrooms in his Oak Bay apartment. They had multiple stab wounds.
Berry was found naked in the bathtub with stab wounds to his neck and throat. The Court heard that when first responders arrived at the scene, he told them “Kill me” and “Leave me alone.”
He has denied killing his daughters, saying that someone else was responsible for the murders.
Berry claimed that two men connected to a loan shark stored what he believed was drugs at his apartment in March of that year in exchange for a delay in the repayment of a loan.
He said that he was attacked by a man with dark skin and hair, however, the Crown argued that his injuries were a failed suicide attempt.
The jury heard during the trial that police found a note at the scene addressed to Berry’s sister. It reportedly detailed grievances with relatives and the girls’ mother.
"Betrayed, bullied, and miscast I set out to leave with the kids," the letter read. "But I thought it better for myself and kids to escape."
It also contained Berry’s passwords and banking information.
In his closing submission, Crown attorney Patrick Weir said Berry’s testimony was “like the plot from a bad low-budget movie.”
“Like everything in his life, he wouldn’t accept his responsibility,” he said. “There was no Paul … no dark-skinned child murderer… .”
Weir said that the motive for the crime was a “long-simmering animosity” towards the girls’ mother. Berry believed that she had plans to end their joint custody arrangement after Christmas was over.
“If he couldn’t have them, [she] couldn’t either,” Weir told the jury.
– WITH FILES FROM THE CANADIAN PRESS
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