A Hamilton court has found Richard Taylor guilty of two counts of first-degree murder in the arson of his mother Carla Rutherford and stepfather Alan Rutherford after their home in Dundas, Ont., Was set on fire in 2018.
Now 46, Taylor was a 42-year-old teacher when he was charged in 2019 with arson as a means of inheritance that would solve his financial problems.
The Rutherfords were asleep in the early hours of July 9, 2018, when a fire broke out in the home where Taylor lived as a child.
After two days of deliberation, after several weeks of trial in which Taylor testified on his own behalf, the jury announced its decision on Friday afternoon. The trial began in mid-May and the jury began deliberations on Wednesday.
Taylor pleaded not guilty to both counts of first-degree murder. He was sentenced to the longest sentence for first-degree murder: life imprisonment, with no chance of parole for at least 25 years, which must be served at the same time.
Taylor “should never see the light of day”: Judge
Taylor sat with his back to the court as the sentence and statements about the victim’s impact were read.
“How could you do this with your loving mother and Alan Rutherford, who showed you nothing but kindness and goodness, is beyond my imagination and beyond the jury’s imagination,” Ontario Supreme Court Justice Tony Skaritsa told him before announcing your sentence.
“You’re a monster. You should never see the light of day again.”
Taylor received the maximum sentence of life imprisonment without a chance of parole for at least 25 years to serve at the same time.
Allen’s eldest and youngest daughters read the victims’ statements.
He was a real man, not just a picture in the newspaper or on the monitor. And that’s what I lost. I lost my father. – Alison Plato, daughter of Alan Rutherford
Alison Plato, the eldest daughter, told the court how she first arrived at the hospital after hearing what had happened to her father.
“I will never forget the image of him lying there and he was told I could not touch him, his body was proof,” Plato said through tears.
“No one should say goodbye to their parents while the police are watching nearby,” Amelia Ryan told the court.
“It was the most traumatic day of my life.”
Dad died “without being hugged goodbye”
When his daughters were finally allowed into the room to see him, Allen was in a medically induced coma, so he had no chance to talk to him when he was alert, Ryan said.
“It was devastating to hear from doctors that nothing could be done but feel comfortable.”
Plato said: “We wanted to talk to him, we wanted to tell him that he would be fine. It was only later that we learned about the extent of his injuries.
“He died at about 3 pm on July 9, without being hugged at all.
“What I would most like to convey to all of you is that he was real,” Plato added.
“When he hugged him, he was warm and firm. It smelled of warm musk. His hands were rough. His mustache tickled and there were cracks in his teeth.
“He was a real man, not just a picture in the paper or on the monitor. And I lost that. I lost my father.”
Ryan said she had to wait four years “to hear the details of what happened on the night of the fire to protect the integrity of the case, and it was not over.”
“To hear that your father is a hero is not very comforting to know that someone can do something like this on purpose,” Ryan said, referring to the court hearing that her father acted heroically in an attempt to save his wife’s life. . “After hearing everything now, I feel so sad and angry that they died for such a selfish and distorted reason.
“I am especially saddened that my unborn child and all future children will never have my father as a grandfather.”
Taylor was given the opportunity to speak, but chose not to.
Taylor has been lying for years about money problems, a trial has been heard
The married father of two lived in Oakville, Ont., And taught at a primary school in Hamilton at the time of his arrest.
Richard Taylor was found guilty on Friday of two counts of first-degree murder in the arson of his mother and stepfather, who were killed in a fire in 2018 at their home in Dundas, Ont. (Cjruther4d / Instagram)
In a recent argument in court on Monday, Crown Prosecutor Janet Bui painted a photo of a man who had spent years lying to relatives about the extent of his financial struggles, saying Taylor had planned to kill Rutherford to get money for an inheritance. worth more than $ 400,000, in a last-ditch attempt to end his debt and spare his pride.
Defense attorney Jennifer Penman claims that while Taylor was a “financial disaster” and lied about it, he had enough money to pay off his debts, but was in no hurry to do so and loved his family too much for to commit the crime.
The jury rejected that defense on Friday.
The fire at the Rutherford family’s one-story home in Greening Court broke out around 3:30 a.m. ET.
Bui told the court earlier that Taylor quietly entered the house using a spare key before reaching the master bedroom, poured oil around Rutherford’s bed and lit it from the match door. He then fled the house, according to the lawyer.
The flames engulfed the room and the door, forcing Alan to escape through the bedroom window, Bui said.
Although almost his entire body was burned, the 63-year-old tried to return home to try to save his wife and two dogs, the court heard. He managed to spare a dog.
“He is the hero of this tragedy,” Bui said.
After Alan fled again, he approached his neighbors and told them he had tried to save Carla, but she was still inside – and he blamed his son for the fire, the jury said.
“Alan is literally on the verge of death – he knows he will die and his last breath, he tells you who did it. He tells you, “He’s rich.” These are strong words, “Bui said.
On Friday, Skaritsa told Taylor that Allen “was brave and strong enough to go to the neighbors’ door and tell us all, in his dying breath, that you killed him and your mother.”
“And if he hadn’t done that, I think the evidence shows that if you took away his death certificate, you would have gotten away with it.”
Firefighters drove Carla out of the house, but the 64-year-old died on the way to the hospital.
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