VICTORIA -- Andrew Berry has been found guilty of killing his two young daughters on Christmas Day 2017.
The jury found the Oak Bay father guilty of two counts of second-degree murder in the stabbing deaths of four-year-old Aubrey and six-year-old Chloe.
After a trial that lasted more than five months in Vancouver's B.C. Supreme Court, the 12-person jury took two days to deliberate before reaching their guilty verdict Thursday evening.
Berry hung his head as the verdict was read. The judge then asked the jury if it wanted to weigh in on the eligibility of parole.
Berry will get a mandatory life sentence with no eligibility for release for 10 to 25 years. The two sentences could be served consecutively or concurrently. The jury has been asked to weigh in on this too.
Sarah Cotton, the mother of the two murdered girls, was in tears while hearing the verdict live over a video feed inside the Victoria courthouse. She told CTV News she felt relieved by the jury's decision.
Also inside the packed Victoria courtroom were several family members, first responders and Oak Bay police officers who worked on the emotionally charged case.
Berry maintained his innocence throughout the proceedings, with his defence counsel blaming the girls' murders on an alleged loan shark named "Paul" and his henchmen, to whom Berry claimed he owed money.
The Crown contended that Berry was ostracized from his family, destitute and alone, and intended to kill his daughters and then himself.
Berry was found suffering from stab wounds and clinging to life by police in the bathtub inside his 1400 Beach Dr. apartment on Dec. 25, 2017. The bodies of Chloe and Aubrey were found in separate beds inside the apartment.
