WINNIPEG — The Candace Derksen murder case is back in court more than 30 years after the 13-year-old was found dead inside a shed in Winnipeg.
“I’m glad the day has come, we’ve been waiting a long time and there hope that this will end,” said Wilma Derksen, Candace Derksen’s mother.
Derksen’s family was in the courtroom among a packed gallery as Crown prosecutors laid out their plan for Grant’s retrial, including the witnesses and some of the evidence they intend to call.
READ MORE: Manitoba Crown will try Mark Grant again for Candace Derksen death
David Wiebe was the first witness to testify Monday morning. He went to the same school as Candace in 1984 and, according to the crown, was one of the last people to see her alive.
Statements were also read into the record, including one given by Wilma Derksen.
Part of it was about the conversation they had over the phone from Candace’s school after she had finished class.
Her mother asked her to walk home and Candace agreed.
Wiebe testified he saw Candace leave school to head home on that walk alone.
That’s when she disappeared and wasn’t found for weeks until her body was located in a shed at an Elmwood industrial yard.
The man who found her has since died but a statement he gave was read to the court, “I looked down and saw a body on the floor of the shed., I thought it was a doll.”
Three retired police officers also testified about finding Candace’s body in the shed.
“The fact that she was frosted over and the feeling that they knew she just wasn’t alive because she had been there for a awhile, those feelings are poignant,” said Wilma Derksen.
READ MORE: Candace Derksen’s family preparing for murder retrial more than 32 years after her death
The accused, Mark Grant, arrived in court wearing a dark suit, with a shaved head and grey goatee.
He was found guilty of Derksen’s murder by a jury in 2011 but that verdict was overturned after a lengthy appeal process.
The trial is being tried with only a judge, not a jury, and is expected to last several weeks.
WATCH: Wilma Derksen surprised by new trial into 30-year-old murder of her daughter
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