Andrew Berry sentencing: Is it time to review the laws governing child custody?

A father who killed his four- and six-year-old daughters on Christmas Day in 2017 will have to serve 22 years before he's eligible for parole.   B.C. Supreme Court Justice Miriam Gropper told Andrew Berry that he committed heinous crimes against his daughters as she sentenced him today in Victoria.

A jury convicted Berry of second-degree murder in September in the violent deaths of his daughters, Aubrey and Chloe Berry. Second-degree murder brings an automatic life sentence but Gropper had to determine Berry's parole eligibility.Gropper says Berry will serve the sentences concurrently.

The trial heard each girl had been stabbed dozens of times and Berry was found naked and unconscious in the bathtub of his Oak Bay apartment suffering from stab wounds to his neck and throat.

The tragic deaths of Audrey and Chloe Berry have put the issue of child custody agreements under the microscope. According to the girls’ mother, Sarah Cotton, Berry had been physically, verbally and emotionally violent during their common-law union. In her statement after the sentencing, Cotton stated that the legal system is an “incredibly acrimonious system and one that favours equal parenting time over the safety and wellbeing of the child.” Cotton also called for changes to be made to the “legislation governing divorce and separation, mediation, parenting time and access to children.” 

Dr. Lori Chamber is the Chair of women’s studies at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay and one of the authors of the paper entitled, “Paternal Filicide and Coercive Control: Reviewing the Evidence in Cotton v Berry”.  She joins us now to discuss what the legal system should takeaway from this tragic case…

Guest: Dr. Lori Chambers 

Chair of women’s studies at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay

Co-author of the paper entitled, “Paternal Filicide and Coercive Control: Reviewing the Evidence in Cotton v Berry”

A father who killed his four- and six-year-old daughters on Christmas Day in 2017 will have to serve 22 years before he's eligible for parole.   B.C. Supreme Court Justice Miriam Gropper told Andrew Berry that he committed heinous crimes against his daughters as she sentenced him today in Victoria.

A jury convicted Berry of second-degree murder in September in the violent deaths of his daughters, Aubrey and Chloe Berry. Second-degree murder brings an automatic life sentence but Gropper had to determine Berry's parole eligibility.Gropper says Berry will serve the sentences concurrently.

The trial heard each girl had been stabbed dozens of times and Berry was found naked and unconscious in the bathtub of his Oak Bay apartment suffering from stab wounds to his neck and throat.

The tragic deaths of Audrey and Chloe Berry have put the issue of child custody agreements under the microscope. According to the girls’ mother, Sarah Cotton, Berry had been physically, verbally and emotionally violent during their common-law union. In her statement after the sentencing, Cotton stated that the legal system is an “incredibly acrimonious system and one that favours equal parenting time over the safety and wellbeing of the child.” Cotton also called for changes to be made to the “legislation governing divorce and separation, mediation, parenting time and access to children.” 

Dr. Lori Chamber is the Chair of women’s studies at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay and one of the authors of the paper entitled, “Paternal Filicide and Coercive Control: Reviewing the Evidence in Cotton v Berry”.  She joins us now to discuss what the legal system should takeaway from this tragic case…

Guest: Dr. Lori Chambers 

Chair of women’s studies at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay

Co-author of the paper entitled, “Paternal Filicide and Coercive Control: Reviewing the Evidence in Cotton v Berry”