Chief Justice defends judge who approved parental visit of murdered Oak Bay girls

The Chief Justice of BC Supreme Court is coming to the defense of one of his judges.

It comes after Justice Victoria Gray approved a Christmas Eve visit for two little girls with their dad — who were then found dead the following day.

Chief Justice Christopher Hinkson says judges aren’t immune to criticism, but that critiques should be informed.

Family court documents uncovered after the bodies of Chloe and Aubrey Berry were found in an Oak Bay apartment painted a concerning picture of the girl’s father, Andrew Berry, who is now charged with their murder.

WATCH: New details emerging about deaths of young girls in Oak Bay

2:38 New details emerging about deaths of young girls in Oak Bay

But Hinkson says the criticism that followed the tragedy is unfair.

“The evidence before Judge Gray wouldn’t have suggested, I don’t think to anybody, that this fellow was likely — if he did murder his children — to do that,” Hinkson said.

Hinkson added that Gray wasn’t charged with assessing Berry’s fitness to visit with his girls, but rather logistical issues about how the visit would happen.

“She wasn’t asked to decide whether Dad should have access. That was a given. The question was when he was going to have access, and there wasn’t any real dispute about that.”

Police discovered the girls in their father’s apartment on Christmas Day after he failed to return them to their mother as scheduled.

Berry was taken to hospital with self-inflicted injuries, and later charged with two counts of second degree murder.