'I'm not happy with the outcome': London man convicted of manslaughter for his role in a brutal stabbing death
CTV
Robert Charnock has been convicted in the December 2021 murder of Kenneth Wallis.
Kenneth Wallis’ family had to listen to months of testimony in the trial of his killer, Robert Charnock. Charnock was facing a possible second-degree conviction, but Justice Helen Rady landed on a finding of manslaughter.
"I'm not happy with the outcome,” Wallis’ daughter Ashley Johnstone told CTV News. “I was really hoping it was going to be second-degree murder, but they decided manslaughter.”
Wallis' other daughter, Sherry Wallis, was hoping the murder charge would stand but takes comfort in knowing Charnock will be going to jail, "Something is better than nothing, you know. I just didn't want him going walking free, and doing it again to someone else."
Charnock and Wallis lived in adjacent units inside a rooming house at 256 Wharncliffe Rd. S.
At one point, they were described as friends.
On Dec. 8, 2021, other occupants of the rooming house heard a violent confrontation, cries for help and someone calling for an ambulance.
Forensic testimony indicated that Wallis had been hacked and slashed 23 times. Some strikes were so fierce they broke bones in his arm. What was described as a large, machete-style knife was discovered at the scene.
