Father convicted of killing daughters a no-show

Jan 14, 2009 10:20 AM

THE CANADIAN PRESS

ST. JOHN'S, N.L.–A Newfoundland man serving a life sentence for drowning his two three-year-old girls failed to show up for a video feed from prison during his bid for an appeal.

Justice Clyde Wells of Newfoundland Supreme Court saw only an empty chair on the monitor instead of Nelson Hart during proceedings in St. John's on Tuesday.

Hart was convicted in 2007 on two counts of first-degree murder in the 2002 drownings of his daughters, Karen and Krista, at Gander Lake.

He is serving his sentence at the Atlantic Institution in Renous, N.B., and has no eligibility of parole for 25 years.

A Renous security officer went on the video feed to tell Wells that Hart had refused to appear.

Hart filed the appeal in 2007 but has delayed proceedings several times, mostly over complaints about his legal aid representation.

 

Source

 

Our commentary in the Toronto Star

Its another "Jail House Confession"

 

The R.C.M.P were $413,000 in the hole, when they gained “the confession”, and one can only imagine the pressure the operatives and “managers” were under as the tab kept growing. The RCMP claimed that their "fictitious gang" was "bigger than the Hells Angels" and Nelson Heart's sole defense was "he told them what they wanted to hear. and its that apparently, on the surface, disturbing confession , obtained at that cost, at that pressure, that put Nelson Heart away for 25 years. Nelson Heart, who is obviously “challenged”, probably just loved being told "you must be a thinker, he". It begs the question. What is more disturbing? the alleged crime? or the admission of that confession supposedly made to gangsters, from a gang, "bigger than the Hells Angels"?, that turns out to be none other than the R.C.M.P. Nelson Heart's failure to appear could well be a reactive depression or admission, and that begs questions as to why he was not represented.

Submitted by ottawamenscentre at 12:45 PM Wednesday, January 14 2009