SOCIAL SERVICES AND THE COURTS FAILED YET ANOTHER B.C. FAMILY
The Christmas Day deaths of two young girls in Oak Bay underscore how frayed this province’s social safety net has become and the dangers caused by the lack of family legal aid. Their 43-year-old father, Andrew Robert Douglas Berry, has been charged with two counts of second-degree murder in what appears to have been a preventable tragedy.
Four-year-old Aubrey and six-year-old Chloe were found in Berry’s apartment after their mother Sarah reported he had failed to bring them home.
The authorities were completely aware of this family’s distress, so why did no one intervene earlier and help a man embroiled in a nasty divorce that revealed his increasing dysfunction?
In her decision only six months before the girls’ deaths, veteran B.C. Supreme Court judge Victoria Gray was overly optimistic in her interpretation of the disturbing and worrying situation.
She gave Berry the benefit of the doubt even though he had threatened to “blow up the house,” had repeatedly scared his wife, was sleeping with his daughters and had been accused of inappropriately touching the younger one.
The mother had many concerns about Berry, including his threats and foul language in the presence of the children. There were portents of violence.
When he was angry, even with the children in the car, the mom testified Berry would drive erratically, speeding and switching lanes without using signals.
He did not always buckle the children into their car seats properly, the mom said, and refused to fix the situation when she pointed it out.
Complaints were made to police and the Ministry of Children and Family Development and a restraining order was put in place.
Still, the ministry apparently concluded Berry had not acted with criminal intent, so he was only asked to take parenting courses. He didn’t.
Around November 2015, Berry won $100,000 in a lottery. Yet at the time of trial, Gray noted, he had not paid child support for almost two years — since Dec. 1, 2014.
He had not paid anything toward the children’s extraordinary expenses since separation in September 2013 and the outstanding arrears were $27,922.
Berry told the court he had not paid child support because he was waiting for the trial to end and had not taken the recommended parenting courses because “a lot has been going on.”
He was self-represented, out of his depth and carrying a chip on his shoulder.
Still, Gray, who has since retired after nearly two decades on the bench, called him “a loving father who has much to offer his daughters.”
“This is not a case where family violence is a significant factor for determining parenting arrangements,” she concluded, minimizing many red flags.
“It can be hoped that, on reflection, the father will recognize that it is a poor idea for him to say negative things about the mother to the girls and to sleep with the girls. … It can be hoped that, in time, the father can act in the best interests of the children by showing the maturity to honour court orders and his agreements, and by ensuring the children are not exposed to his disputes with the mother.
“On balance, I am not persuaded that the father’s displays of poor judgment regarding the children have reached the level that the children should be deprived of significant parenting time with their father.”
In hindsight, this was naive and wishful thinking.
Berry once was a mentally stable economist with B.C. Ferries, an amateur musician and athlete, and probably the loving father Gray imagined — but you would have to be blind not to have seen this man’s life was taking a nosedive.
Since Gray’s decision on May 31, 2017, Berry appears to have continued spiralling downward — he reputedly quit his job, was facing eviction for not paying rent and B.C. Hydro cut off his power only days before the killings.
Of course, the Ministry of Children and Family Development won’t comment on the case, citing privacy, but says it is considering an in-depth review.
Do we really need another report telling us the system needs more money and resources after 16 years of being beggared by the B.C. Liberals?
It is trite to say no one could have predicted these slayings — and Berry must of course be considered innocent of the offences until his trial.
Do we really need another report telling us the system needs more money and resources?
The facts, however, are blatant and speak for themselves: In spite of this family’s obvious distress, they did not receive the support they needed.
The child-protection authorities once again failed miserably, and so did the legal system in dealing with Berry and the crisis in his life.
The cause of this horror is obvious — the abject failure of previous governments to maintain essential services and the social safety net leaving the most vulnerable families at risk.
Berry appeared in Victoria provincial court on Thursday. Crown prosecutor Jeni Gillings asked that he be detained in custody.
Berry was represented by in-custody duty counsel Jamie Dunlap, who asked for a publication ban on the proceedings.
Dunlap asked for the matter to be adjourned until Feb. 1 to allow Berry time to contact and retain counsel.