Wilson found guilty again

For the second time in two years, Harry Wilson has been found guilty of murdering his two-year-old daughter, Arielle, attempting to murder his five-year-old daughter, Shontelle, and his former common-law wife, Grace Williams.

Now, 31-year-old Wilson will have to wait until later this month to know whether he will be sentenced to hang for the February 18, 2001 atrocities. {{more}}

“I saw my daddy stab a knife in my mummy’s neck and then she headed for the window… Then he cut my sister’s throat and then he cut her pulse,” nine-year-old Shontelle told the court Tuesday as she testified against her father.

“Then, he cut my throat and he was trying to cut my pulse then he cut me on my hand,” Shontelle further testified.

The thrust of the defence’s case was that Harry told his ex-girlfriend he wanted custody of their two children. As a result, the defence contends, Grace Williams cut her children’s throat and then cut her own throat. The defence vehemently denied that Wilson committed the crimes, contending that Shontelle, who was six years at the time of the incident, was prompted by someone.

Wilson will be sentenced on November 29. Presiding judge, Justice Louise Blenmann, postponed the sentencing phase after the prosecutor and defence lawyers requested a two-week adjournment for the preparation of psychiatric evaluation and social inquiry reports.

Wilson had been previously sentenced to hang for the crimes, but he appealed his sentence and the Appeal Court quashed it and ordered a retrial last year.

Wilson was represented at the retrial by Nicole Sylvester and Rochelle Forde.