Hart could have walked away from 'gang,' officer tells jury

A jury in a Newfoundland Supreme Court murder trial learned more details on Monday of how the RCMP conducted an undercover sting operation involving Nelson Hart.

Hart is being tried in Gander on two counts of first-degree murder involving the August 2002 drowning deaths of his twin three-year-old daughters, Krista and Karen Hart.

An RCMP officer, whose identity is protected by court order, acknowledged under cross-examination that comments that undercover officers made to Hart during the stingcould be interpreted as intimidation.

However, the officer insisted that Hart could have walked away at any time from what he was led to believe was a "criminal gang." The officer told the jury that Hart always had the option not to return phone calls and not to accept flights across the country.

The officer told the jury Monday of how two undercover officers were recruited to the sting, which he said was launched to learn the truth about what happened to Hart's daughters.

In official interviews with police, Hart changed his story of what happened at Gander Lake. He first said he had left one of the girls in the water to get help, and later said he had suffered an epileptic seizure before the girls went into the water.

After the investigation hit a roadblock, the undercover operation was launched in February 2005.

The officer, who worked behind the scenes, said Hart met with undercover officers more than 60 times over a four-month period.

Court was told that Hart was a little suspicious and even informed the police about one of the undercover officers who had approached him.

Trust earned, officer tells jury

The undercover officers gradually earned Hart's trust, the officer told the court.

Hart was eventually told he was working for a criminal organization, and was given tasks of transporting packages and picking up bags of cash. The RCMP flew Hart to Halifax, Montreal, Toronto, Ottawa and Vancouver during the operation.

To make the operation seem more believable, Hart was asked to count money during the transactions. On one occasion, he counted about $275,000 in cash.

Hart himself was paid about $15,000 in cash during the operation.

On one occasion, court was told, the undercover officers had Hart don a ski mask and act as a lookout for what he was told was a break-in at a Montreal towing company.

The officer testified that the entire operation was designed to earn Hart's trust and to persuade him that there was a big job coming up for people that the supposed criminals trusted.

Supposed 'big boss' wanted to talk to Hart

Hart, who was told he would earn $30,000 for that job, was also told that the supposed "big boss" of the gang wanted to talk to Hart about a background check that had been conducted.

In a hotel room in Montreal, the "boss" told Hart that the police were reopening the investigation into how Karen and Krista Hart drowned, that the file was being assigned to a cold case unit and that police were looking at new DNA evidence.

Hart was also told there had been a witness — a man who had been picked up on drug charges who wanted to make a deal with the police in exchange for information he had about what happened to the girls.

Hart was told he had to tell the truth about what happened at Gander Lake if he wanted to be part of what he believed was a criminal gang.

In opening statements two weeks ago, the Crown said that Hart confessed to drowning his daughters to an undercover officer and that it was videotaped.

The videotapes are expected to be entered into evidence later this week.

Defence raises issues of intimidation

During cross-examination, defence lawyer Derek Hogan brought up several examples of what he called intimidation during the sting.

For instance, he said that Hart was told that rats could be killed and that if he was a rat, he should learn to swim quickly.

The officer said that the comment could be viewed as intimidation, but also told the court that no threats were ever directed against Hart.

One of the officers who took part in the sting is expected to testify on Tuesday.

Last week, the jury was told that the undercover operation cost the RCMP about $413,000.