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The trial of Dennis Oland for the alleged murder of his father Richard Oland is set to continue on Tuesday.
Dennis Oland, 50, is on trial for the second degree murder of his 69-year-old father, whose body was found lying in a pool of blood on July 7, 2011.
On Thursday, court was shown video of an interview between police and Dennis Oland, the day Richard Oland’s bludgeoned body was discovered.
The video showed a talkative Dennis Oland chatting with police at length about his relationship with his difficult dad, Richard, initially unaware that investigators were zeroing in on him as the prime suspect in his father’s murder.
Dennis Oland’s defence team had tried to get the video excluded prior to the trial, but Justice Terrence Morrison of the New Brunswick Court of Queen’s Bench allowed it to remain as evidence.
The trial is proceeding before Morrison alone.
In the video shown on Thursday, Dennis Oland denied having anything to do with his father’s death.
“I have no reason to want my father dead, to kill him,” Dennis Oland told Const. Stephen Davidson of the Saint John police.
“No, I mean, we’ve had our … things. But no, I wouldn’t rob someone of the fun that they’re having and, you know, I … he’s just … no.”
The trial had previously learned that Richard Oland was bludgeoned to death with an unknown weapon or weapons.
The 45 wounds on his hands and head were mostly from a sharp-edged implement, such as an axe of some sort, and there were a few round wounds that appeared to be from a hammer.
Dennis Oland has steadfastly maintained his innocence. He was charged in 2013 and tried and convicted by a jury in 2015. That verdict was set aside on appeal in 2016 when the new trial was ordered.
The Crown has contended that Dennis Oland was deeply in debt and on the edge financially when he killed his very rich father “in a rage” over money.
The defence has suggested that Saint John police mishandled the investigation and rushed to judgment in deciding very quickly that Dennis Oland was the killer.
— With files from The Canadian Press
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