Quick verdict: Jury finds Willis guilty of murdering elderly Dartmouth woman

DARTMOUTH, N.S. — In his closing arguments, Crown attorney Rob Kennedy said the case against Richard George Willis was overwhelming, and the jury must have agreed.

Jurors only deliberated for about 3.5 hours before finding Willis guilty Tuesday of second-degree murder in the July 2020 strangulation death of 84-year-old Eleanor Harding during a break-in at her Dartmouth home.

“We’re pleased with the verdict,” Mark Harding, one of the victim’s sons, said outside Nova Scotia Supreme Court in Dartmouth.

“There was a great amount of evidence to convict. I couldn’t see it going any other way after hearing the evidence.”

At the request of the defence, the 12 jurors were polled individually to confirm they all agreed with the verdict.

The murder conviction carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison. A hearing will be held in July to determine how many years Willis must serve — somewhere between 10 and 25 — before he is eligible for parole.

After receiving the verdict, Justice James Chipman asked jurors for recommendations on parole ineligibility for him to consider when he finalizes Willis’s sentence in July.

Six of the jurors said Willis should have to wait 20 years to apply for parole, while three said 18 years and three had no recommendation.

Before excusing the jurors, Chipman thanked them for their hard work, professionalism and timeliness over the past two weeks.

“You have served admirably as triers of fact since the beginning of this trial on Jan. 9, and your service has not gone unnoticed,” the judge said.

The Crown alleged Willis broke into Harding’s house at 3 Lynwood Dr. through a basement window in the early-morning hours of July 10, 2020, murdered the elderly woman and looted her bedroom before fleeing with some of her possessions.

Mark Harding found his mother’s body face down in a hallway on the main floor of the home the next day, July 11.

A medical examiner concluded Eleanor Harding had been strangled with a ligature, likely a pair of jeans that were still around her neck when her body was discovered.

Willis, 65, of no fixed address, was arrested about three weeks later, on July 30, and charged with first-degree murder. The Crown downgraded the charge to second-degree murder in 2022.  

Willis has never applied for bail on the charge. By the time his parole ineligibility is set, he will have already served four years of his sentence.

Crown evidence

The Crown called evidence from a dozen people at trial, including Mark Harding.

An RCMP forensic specialist told the court Willis’s DNA was on the jeans, in fingernail clippings from both of Eleanor Harding’s hands, and inside a black fedora that was located beneath the basement window.

A cellphone that was also found below the window contained three user accounts in the name of Willis, an RCMP digital forensic analyst testified.

Police recovered papers, bank cards, a cellphone, a driver’s licence and other items belonging to Harding from bushes across the street from her house or along nearby Waverley Road.

The jury was shown a video clip of a Black man, wearing a black fedora and a grey suit and carrying a light, walking by Mic Mac Amateur Aquatic Club on Prince Albert Road in Dartmouth on July 10 at 2:33 a.m. Another clip showed the man walking through the parking lot of a Tim Hortons shop on Waverley Road at 3:14 a.m.

The jury also saw videos of what appeared to be the same man walking outbound on Waverley Road on July 10 at 5:34 a.m. — near where some of Harding’s items were scattered — and getting out of a vehicle farther out Waverley Road at about 6 a.m. The man in those videos was bald and was not wearing a hat or carrying a flashlight.

A flashlight in the “on” position was on the floor in Harding’s bedroom when police arrived at the house.

The jury heard that Willis used to live with a girlfriend on Lynwood Drive and knew Harding.

“In the Crown’s view, the evidence squarely pointed at Richard Willis as the perpetrator in this case,” Kennedy said after Tuesday’s verdict.

‘Too many gaps’

Willis chose not to offer any evidence. During closing submissions, defence lawyer Godfred Chongatera said there was no way to tell how or when his client’s DNA was deposited at the murder scene.

“There are too many gaps in the evidence that would be difficult to fill without speculating about what happened here,” Chongatera argued. “Those gaps raise doubt as to what happened.

“Beyond a reasonable doubt is a very high standard. The evidence presented by the prosecution does not reach that standard.”

Kennedy said he and co-Crown counsel Scott Morrison were unaware the jury had reached a verdict when court reconvened Tuesday for the morning roll call.

“They deliberated for roughly two and a half hours yesterday,” Kennedy said. “They came to court this morning about an hour before counsel arrived. We were not notified that a verdict was ready, so we were surprised that the verdict was delivered first thing this morning.

“It was a long road to get to this point. We had several delays in getting to trial. It’s good that we’re finally at this juncture.

“The family has been waiting a long time for justice, and hopefully this offers some degree of closure and finality for them.”

Chipman ordered preparation of a presentence report on Willis, as well as a cultural assessment that could take up to six months to be completed.

‘Related convictions’

Kennedy said the prosecution’s recommendation for parole ineligibility will be at the high end of the range.

“It’s the Crown’s understanding that Mr. Willis has spent most of his life in the province of Manitoba,” Kennedy said. “The Crown is aware of some related convictions from Manitoba for break and enters with elderly victims that we intend on making reference to at the parole ineligibility hearing.”

Eleven members of Eleanor Harding’s extended family were in court for the verdict.

“It means a great deal to me,” Mark Harding, 65, said of his relatives’ support.

He said he doesn’t mind having to wait until summer for the parole ineligibility hearing.

“We waited this long for the trial,” he said. “We can wait a little bit longer.”

He’s not sure if he will submit a victim impact statement for July’s hearing.

“I haven’t decided yet,” he said. “I have to think about that and get my thoughts together.”

Nothing can change what the family has been through, he said.

“It’s bad enough to have a death, but to have a death like that is hard to get your head around.”