Hart claims epileptic seizure prevented rescue of daughters

A man accused of drowning his twin three-year-old daughters in 2002 admitted to police two months after the deaths that part of his story about the event was a lie, jurors in Newfoundland Supreme Court heard Thursday.

Five weeks after Krista and Karen Hart drowned at Gander Lake, police got tough with Nelson Hart. A three-hour interrogation recorded on tape ended with an officer accusing Hart of murdering his daughters. The jury heard Sgt. Lloyd Fry tell Hart he was going to get him.

Jurors inthe Gander courtroomheard Hart tell police in the video that God knew he was innocent.

Just over two weeks later, though, Hart phoned the police and said he wanted to talk again. Hart had originally told police he'd seen Krista fall off the dock into the water before drivingback to Gander to get his wife.

But in the later interview, Hart said he hadnever seen Krista fall in the water. Hart has epilepsy and said that after he took the girls to the park and got them out of the car, he had a seizure and blacked out. In his second version of events, Hart said that when he came around, Krista was already in the waterbeforehe drove back to Gander to get his wife.

The jury watched videotape of a police officer asking Hart why he didn't go into the water to get Krista. The officer said that when an ambulance attendant went in after the girl, she was only two metres offshore, in water that came up to his mid-thigh. Hart insisted that he didn't go in because he couldn't swim.

Hart said he had lied about the seizure because he didn't want to lose his driver's licence, but he told the police the weight of the lie was too much to bear and he felt better getting the truth out.

The trial is in its first week and isn't expected to wrap up until April.