A trial date has been set in the case of an Oak Bay man who is accused of murdering his two young daughters last Christmas.
According to the Canadian Press, Berry’s trial is set to begin on April 8th in the BC Supreme Court in Vancouver.
43-year-old Andrew Berry was charged with two counts of 2nd-degree murder after the bodies of his daughters, Aubrey, 4, and Chloe, 6 were found inside his Beach Drive apartment in the evening of Christmas Day.
Berry was also taken to the hospital with self-inflicted injuries on the same day.
A long and ugly history
According to court documents, Andrew Berry and Sarah Cotton spent five days in November 2016, in the B.C. Supreme Court fighting for custody of their daughters.
On May 31st, 2017, B.C. Supreme Court Justice Victoria Gray handed down her judgement for a shared custody arrangement.
With regard to Christmas 2017, the girls were to have parenting time with the father from noon on December 24 to noon on December 25.
The court document outlines a series of disturbing allegations against Berry in the past:
- Cotton testified that after her father passed away in 2013, Berry started criticizing her and calling her foul names in front of the girls.
- When Berry was angry with her, he would drive erratically and go over the speed limit, even when the children were in the car.
- The court accepted Cotton’s “uncontradicted evidence” that Berry threatened to “blow up the house” if he didn’t get a breakdown of childcare expenses and family allowance cheques from the government.
- In September 2013, Berry was arrested when Cotton called the police after he pinned her to her bed at around 3 AM.
- In October 2015, the Ministry of Children and Family Development (MCFD) investigated Berry after reports that he had inappropriately touched Aubrey’s genitals. He was then instructed to take parenting courses.
Failed by the system?
At the time of publication, these, and other revelations in the court document had many in the community asking whether the judicial system failed to protect Chloe and Aubrey.
Despite the girls’ mother’s allegations of domestic abuse during the custody battle, the judge deemed that Berry’s behaviour did not justify denying him time spent with his daughters.
