SAINT JOHN, N.B. — An expert in DNA analysis has taken the witness stand as the trial looking into the murder of New Brunswick businessman Richard Oland enters its 11th week.
Joy Kearsey was a scientist at the RCMP lab in Halifax between 1997 and 2013.
Crown prosecutor P.J. Veniot said in his opening statement at the start of the trial that DNA samples taken from a brown jacket seized from the home of Dennis Oland matched the profile of Richard Oland.
Dennis Oland has pleaded not guilty to a charge of second-degree murder.
Crown prosecutor Patrick Wilbur asked questions Monday morning as Kearsey lead the jury through a tutorial on DNA, or deoxyribonucleic acid.
She said it is genetic material that is inherited from each parent and is in essentially every cell of the body.
Kearsey said human DNA is 99.9 per cent identical, while 0.1 per cent is different between individuals — which represents three million differences.
"Forensic analysis targets those differences," she said.
She explained how DNA samples are compared, and explained some of the math used to determine the probability of a possible match.
Dennis Oland is the last known person to see his father alive.
Investigators focused on his brown sports jacket as a key piece of evidence since the day after the murder when Oland told police he was wearing a navy blazer during a visit to his father's office on July 6, 2011.
Witnesses and security video played at the trial show Oland wearing a brown jacket that day.
Richard Oland was found face down in a pool of blood in his Saint John office on July 7, 2011.
He had suffered about 40 blows to his head and neck from a blunt instrument and bladed weapon.
