CTV News Vancouver reporters are covering the case live from court. Follow along through tweets in this live blog.
Andrew Berry, the Oak Bay man charged with killing his two daughters on Christmas Day 2017, spent a third day on the witness stand being cross-examined by crown prosecutor Patrick Weir.
Berry denied he killed six-year-old Chloe and four-year-old Aubrey and has instead testified someone attacked them in his apartment on the afternoon of December 25th.
- Monday's coverage: Crown questions truth of testimony at 2nd-degree murder trial
- From last week: Cross-examination of Andrew Berry begins
- Father accused of murdering daughters testifies he was attacked at home
- Man charged in daughters' deaths says he was not the killer
Weir showed Berry a note Chloe wrote on Christmas Eve, which was addressed to Santa, saying she was putting out bunny crackers for Santa to eat and a wrapped toothbrush for him to use.
Crime scene photos taken Christmas Day show the cracker bowl empty, but the toothbrush still wrapped.
Weir said, “I’m going to suggest you didn’t open that toothbrush because the girls didn’t come out of their rooms Christmas morning.” Berry denied that.
He testified his daughters did come out of their rooms and looked at small gifts he left in their stockings.
“I’m going to suggest those stocking were empty. I’m going to suggest there were no gifts at all from you to the girls that morning,” Weir said.
"No," Berry responded.
When asked why a crime scene photo showed a gift in a red Santa bag that was to him from the girls and a small wrapped present to Chloe from her teacher still unopened by the tree, Berry insisted he left them by the front door to take to his ex-wife’s home.
Weir suggested the girls would have wanted those gifts opened on Christmas morning.
Crown hammered Berry about his claim he took the girls tobogganing at a golf course, an hour's walk away two times that day, returning to the apartment in between.
Weir asked why no one has come forward to say they saw the father and his two young daughters. Berry testified he did not see anyone he knew, but did say hello and Merry Christmas to people they passed.
Weir asked Berry why he didn’t take Chloe and Aubrey to his ex-wife, Sarah Cotton’s, home at noon on Christmas Day as per a court order.
Berry said his girls were having fun in the snow.
He said he knew Cotton would be worried but didn’t contact her to say he would be late.
Berry said he did not take his phone with him while they were tobogganing, or hear Cotton’s repeated calls or text alerts when he was at the apartment.
Berry testified he got home with the girls around 3 p.m.
He said Chloe and Aubrey stripped down to their pajamas which they had worn under their regular clothes, and went to get changed to go to their mom’s home.
Berry said he walked into Aubrey’s bedroom where he was attacked and stabbed in the throat.
He said when he heard noises in Chloe's room and went to investigate.
“I reached out and there’s Chloe. She’s gone,” Berry testified. “She’s a bloody mess.”
Weir asked why he didn’t call 911 and Berry responded that he was looking for his other daughter.
He claimed he was attacked a second time in the kitchen, passed out and woke up naked in his bathtub when police arrived.
Weir asked him if he had any recollection of removing his clothes and running the water in the tub. Berry said he didn't remember doing that.
Crown asked Berry about an earlier testimony from a doctor, who said along with a large gaping wound on his neck, Berry had several superficial scratch marks, which were called "hesitation wounds," along with 16 small clustered stab wounds on his chest.
Berry denied any of his wounds were self-inflicted.
He has testified he owed money to a loan shark, but did not recognize the dark-skinned, dark-haired man he claims attacked him.
Berry will return to the witness stand Wednesday for a fourth day of cross-examination.