Court tosses double child-killer Andrew Berry’s sentence appeal

WARNING: This communicative contains disturbing details and whitethorn not beryllium suitable for each readers. Discretion is advised.

British Columbia’s apical tribunal has thrown retired an effort by treble child-killer Andrew Berry to lighten his sentence.

A assemblage recovered Berry blameworthy connected 2 counts of second-degree execution successful September 2019, for the brutal stabbing deaths of his daughters, six-year-old Chloe and four-year-old Aubrey, connected Christmas Day 2017.

He was sentenced to beingness successful situation with nary accidental of parole for 22 years.

After unsuccessfully appealing his conviction, Berry challenged his condemnation with respective arguments, including that the proceedings justice had wrongly characterized his motive and had failed to decently relationship for the jury’s sentencing recommendations.

In a determination published Friday, a B.C. Court of Appeal three-judge sheet rejected those arguments.

The tribunal ruled that Berry’s proceedings had proven beyond a tenable uncertainty that helium resented his woman for separating from him, and that helium believed she had done truthful successful a mode to inflict “maximum harm connected him personally and financially.”

“The sentencing justice had overwhelming grounds of the important discord betwixt Mr. Berry and (his wife) which included Mr. Berry asserting that helium was antagonistic towards (her) earlier and aft the killings,” the ruling states.

“The killings were brutal, involving aggregate stab wounds connected tiny, defenceless people. In my view, the decision of the sentencing justice that Mr. Berry was “vengeful to an inordinate degree” is wholly supported by the evidence.”

The tribunal went connected to regularisation that a sentencing justice is nether nary ineligible request to travel a jury’s condemnation recommendations. Two jurors had recommended 10 years imprisonment earlier parole eligibility, portion six had suggested 15 years, but served consecutively.

The judges besides rejected arguments that Berry’s condemnation was unconstitutional and that it was unfit.

Trending Now

At trial, the tribunal heard however Berry was recovered successful the bathtub of his Oak Bay flat with aggregate stab wounds.

His daughters were recovered stabbed to decease successful their beds.

The Crown argued Berry’s wounds were self-inflicted and helium had killed his daughters aft hitting stone bottommost implicit a crippling gambling addiction that made him incapable to wage his bills.

Prosecutors and witnesses had told the tribunal Berry was fearful his fiscal authorities would pb to him losing custody of the girls to his ex-partner, who helium resented.

Berry and his defence person maintained the begetter was attacked by a idiosyncratic connected to a indebtedness shark named “Paul” to whom helium owed a important gambling debt, and woke up aboriginal to observe his daughters had been killed.

— with files from Sean Boynton