All Sarah Cotton ever wanted to be was a mother.
And she was “so honoured” to be the mother of six-year-old Chloe and four-year-Aubrey Berry, Cotton said Tuesday as she stood in B.C. Supreme Court and read aloud her victim-impact statement at the sentencing hearing for her former partner, Andrew Berry.
“Our house hummed with their energy, giggles, fast little footsteps and sometimes tears. There was so much life and joy in our house, and now it has all gone silent,” said Cotton, her partner Scott Elliott by her side.
Two years after her girls’ deaths, Cotton is no longer a mother who takes her children to school every day, makes them meals, cares for them and ensures they are safe and having the best life possible. “I now feel a deep void and an emptiness that will never go away,” she said.
In September, after a six-month trial, Berry was convicted of the second-degree murders of his daughters at his Beach Drive apartment on Christmas Day 2017. The little girls had been stabbed to death in their beds.
Justice Miriam Gropper will consider the victim-impact statements in deciding on an appropriate sentence for Berry.
While Berry is automatically sentenced to life in prison, the judge must decide how long Berry must be incarcerated before being eligible for parole. Parole eligibility for second-degree murder is 10 to 25 years.
Crown prosecutor Patrick Weir is asking that Berry serve 21 to 24 years in prison before being eligible for parole. Defence lawyer Kevin McCullough asked for a period of 15 to 20 years, noting that his client maintains his innocence.
“He has deep sympathy for the victims, but is not the killer.”
A scruffy, unshaven Berry sat in the prisoner’s dock taking notes, his head down. He appeared detached from the proceedings, not looking at the people reading their statements, even when they addressed him directly.
Cotton said she feels guilt that she didn’t do more to save Chloe and Aubrey.
“To imagine that my children were not fed or cared for in the days leading up to their deaths is absolutely heartbreaking. I never imagined Andrew wouldn’t care for them. They were helpless and defenceless, and I go over the brutality of their deaths over and over again in my mind.
“To try to understand how the father of my children is capable of doing such a horrific and unimaginable act to his own daughters is inconceivable, as all they did was love him.”
Cotton’s statement was the first of 17 victim-impact statements read into the court record. Family and friends struggled through tears to describe how the murders of Chloe and Aubrey have affected them. People cried openly as they listened to the statements.
Berry’s sister said her brother’s actions ripped away a piece of her heart, “but I know this is nothing compared to the betrayal Chloe and Aubrey experienced at the hands of their father.”
Suzanne Morin, the girls’ nanny for three years, read her statement with Cotton by her side. “Grief hurts. It hurts so much. It is the feeling of never being able to catch your breath. It is pain hitting you so hard that you have to double over,” said Morin, who said she struggles every day with the loss of all the commonplace things she used to do, like walking with their small hands in hers.
Friends Sarah Healing, Trish Lees and Sandra Hudson described how Cotton and the two girls were a beloved part of their families. Healing read her five-year-old son’s statement. The boy, who had been a close friend of both girls, told his mother he missed them a lot. “I liked them being alive. I liked playing with them and being with them a lot.”
The boy also said he was worried that more people were going to die, such as his family and friends.
“I worry about Aunty Sarah, I am worried about how sad she is … I am sad that I started kindergarten and Aubrey never got to. It doesn’t seem fair.”
Chloe’s godfather Matt Green spoke of the anger that was awakened in him, out-of-control anger that he had never experienced before and that scares him to this day.
Ricky DeSouza, principal of St. Christopher’s Montessori School in Oak Bay, which Aubrey attended, addressed Berry directly in his community-impact statement.
“Andrew, you were our peer. A fellow parent. … We’d chat in the yard after school while our children played. Both Chloe and Aubrey laughing with their dad. The three of you sharing a playful moment. … Andrew, I only wish you’d been able to reach out to me for help,” said DeSouza.
Stuart Hall, head of Christ Church Cathedral School, where Chloe was in Grade 1, said he was worried about the long-term effects the murders will have on the children who were traumatized at such a young age.
Hall said several parents who were separated or divorced reported that their children didn’t want to go home to their father out of fear. Staff absenteeism at the school has tripled since the murders.
“We are heartbroken,” he said through tears.
Oak Bay Mayor Kevin Murdoch, chairman of the Oak Bay Police Board, said the crime shook the community to its core. He recalled the vigil on a cold winter night at Willow’s Beach attended by hundreds of people.
“The need to gather together was a way to help manage the overwhelming grief of the community and to express through our presence, support to Sarah Cotton at a time when no words could suffice,” said Murdoch, his voice shaking.
“I say absolutely that Mr. Berry has damaged hundreds, maybe thousands, in our community by his actions. … Given the cruelty of the crimes, I don’t think our community would ever feel safe with Mr. Berry on the streets,” he said.
At the end of the hearing, Berry was offered an opportunity to address the court. He stood and said he did not wish to say anything.
The court was adjourned until Thursday at 10 a.m., when the judge will deliver her decision on parole eligibility.
