'I'm not happy with the outcome': London man convicted of manslaughter for his role in a brutal stabbing death

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.

Kenneth Wayne Wallis of London, Ont. is seen in this undated photo. (Source: Wayne Wallace / Facebook)

Johnstone said she had a feeling that bad news was coming on the night of her father’s death, "Five to six hours after he was murdered, I told a friend that my biggest fear was him being murdered not knowing it had happened."

As first responders were arriving at the crime scene, Charnock was walking to the London Health Sciences Centre Victoria Campus. He was reported to be acting agitated and erratic. It was there that police arrested him.

Charnock had previous violent episodes, which resulted in time spent in psychiatric facilities. He had been diagnosed with a range of conditions, including paranoid schizophrenia, substance abuse disorder, and anti-social personality disorder.

However, experts called by the crown and the defence couldn't recommend a finding of not criminally responsible.

In her decision, Justice Rady said the evidence was primarily circumstantial, "I'm also satisfied that the accused likely had an existing urge to harm the deceased although there is no evidence the urge was murderous."

Wallis' daughters acknowledge their father's own struggles with addiction that they say became more acute after the lost of his wife and his granddaughter, Sherry's child.

Still they believe that at his core he was a good man, with Sherry saying, "I try to remember the times away from the drugs and the addiction."