The 2004 firebombing that torched two children in their Ottawa home was meant to kill their mother for fear she would reveal that one of the accused was a pedophile, prosecutors allege.
Chelsea Rodgers, 10, and her brother Cole, 7, were burned alive in their home in 2004.
Crown Attorney Vikki Bair made the accusation in an opening statement as a trial began in Ottawa on Wednesday, with three men facing first-degree murder charges.
All three – Randy Parish, Tom McDowell and Gus Salah – have pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Bair alleges that Parish promised the other men $7,000 each to kill the mother, Cindy Rodgers, in order to keep her from spreading accusations that he was sexually assaulting young boys.
Rodgers knew Parish. Her children, Chelsea, 10, and Cole, 7, became trapped and died when their house in Ottawa's west end was set on fire on Jan. 30, 2004.
Boy alleges that Parish molested him
The first witness called on Wednesday was a boy who alleged that Parish molested him when he slept over at the man's apartment one night.
According to the prosecution, Parish plotted to kill Cindy Rodgers to keep his life as a pedophile a secret.
Nathalie Lafleur, a friend of Rodgers, testified Rodgers had told people about the incident.
Knapsacks stuffed with Molotov cocktails
Bair said Parish and Salah organized the fire, but McDowell and Salah set it using backpacks stuffed with wine bottles filled with gasoline.
She told jurors that over the course of the six-week trial, they will be shown security videotapes that allegedly show the accused buying supplies for the Molotov cocktails.
According to Bair, Rodgers had fallen asleep with her son on a couch in the living room while watching TV.
The eight-man, four-woman jury heard allegations that McDowell and Cameron put the knapsacks through a window next to where the two were sleeping and lit the Molotov cocktails.
Just after the firebombing, Cole ran upstairs to his sister while his mother ran to get help, according to the prosecution.
4th man pleads guilty to 2nd-degree murder
McDowell tried to plead guilty to the lesser charge of manslaughter on Tuesday, but the plea was rejected by the Crown.
Steven Cameron, a fourth man who had also been charged, pleaded guilty to second-degree murder and received a 23-year sentence, Bair said.
The defence did not make opening statements.