Hart's wife breaks down while describing daughters' deaths

Nelson Hart's wife was overcome with emotion Wednesday, as she told a jury about his behaviour immediately following the drowning deaths of their twin three-year-old daughters.

Jennifer Hart broke down in tears during her testimony at Nelson Hart's trial on two counts of first-degree murder, which is being held at Newfoundland Supreme Court in Gander.

When describing being brought in to seeher daughter Krista at Gander hospital on Aug. 4, 2002, Hart became so emotionalthat court took a brief recess so she could compose herself.

Hart told the court that her husband arrived at their apartment, saying Krista was in the water at a popular spot on Gander Lake.

Hart told the jury she had asked her husband where their other daughter, Karen, was. He told her the girl was in the car.

But, she said, when she got in the car, she found that Karen was not there. Her husband then told her he must have left Karen at Gander Lake, she told the court.

When they reached Gander Lake, Jennifer Hart said, she sent her husband to fetch help.

She said she tried to find something on the dock that would help her get Krista out of the water, but could find nothing.

At that point, she testified, she could not see Karen, and thought that the girl may have been frightened by what happened and run away. She told the jury how she started looking for Karen in nearby woods.

When Nelson Hart returned, she testified, an ambulance arrived on the scene shortly afterwards. The ambulance attendant pulled Krista out of the water, and told Jennifer to go to the hospital with her. Nelson Hart accompanied them.

Police charged Nelson Hart, now 38, with two counts of first-degree murder in 2005, almost three years after the couple's daughters died. His trial began last week.

Court has been told how RCMP officers after hearing Hart change his account of what happened when the girls died constructed an elaborate undercover operation.

While being covertly videotaped, Hart told undercover officers he had killed his daughters.

The defence has said the confession is meaningless, and that Hart made it in order to impress men he not only thought were criminals, but would hurt him if he didn't say what they wanted to hear.