Daughters died by accident, Hart claims on videotape

A man accused of drowning his twin girls nearly five years ago says in a videotape made by police on the day his daughters died that the deaths were accidental.

A jury in the trial of Nelson Hart, 38, listened to the videotape in Newfoundland Supreme Court in Gander on Wednesday. The videotape was made hours after his three-year-old daughters, Karen and Krista, were pulled from Gander Lake on Aug. 4, 2002.

Police said at the time that Karen was found dead in the water, while Krista, unconscious, died later in hospital. Hart has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder. He was charged three years after their deaths.

RCMP Cpl. Terry Trainor testified in court on Wednesday that he believed he was investigating a crime when he interviewed Hart at a nearby police station that day. Hart agreed to be interviewed and waived his right to a lawyer,Trainor said.

In the video, played for the jury, Hart tells Trainor he took his daughters to Little Harbour, a popular family boating and swimming spot on Gander Lake, where Karen fell off the dock in the water.

Hart says he panicked and left Krista there while he drove home to get his wife who could swim. The RCMP said at the time Hart told them he drove 10 kilometres to get help.

Couldn't swim

Trainor asks him why he didn't go into the water after Karen, and Hart replies that he couldn't swim. Trainor asks him why he leftKrista at the park and Hart replies he was afraid.

Trainor then asks Hart why he didn't use the cell phone that was in his glove compartment of his car. Hart says he never thought to do so the phonedid not belong to him and he simply found it.

In the video, Hart explains that he drove home to get his wife, they returned to the dock, called an ambulance, which picked up the girls and took them to hospital.

Hart says the girls were his life, his wife had had her tubes tied and the couple could not have any more children.

Trainor asks him how he would respond if a person said he or she saw him harm the children. Hart replies that the person would be lying. He tells Trainor his statements are the truth and he would swear on the Bible.

At one point in the interview, he starts to cry and he says if someone ever lost a child they would know how much it hurts.

Hart adds that if he had to do it over again, he would have grabbedKrista instead of leaving her by the water.

Near the end of the interview, the police officer leaves the room. Hart, left alone, appears to be choking back tears and says: "Oh lord, why did this happen to me?"

The video was made about four or five hours after the girls were taken to the hospital, the RCMP said.

On Tuesday, the jury was told in opening statements that the Crown has a latervideotape of Hart confessing that he killed his daughters.

According to the Crown, the RCMP elicited the confession during an elaborate undercover operation.

The trial is expected to take up to six weeks.