A Hamilton courtroom heard chilling testimony today from a neighbour who tried to help Dundas couple Alan and Carla Ruthford when their bedroom went up in flames.

The couple’s son, former school teacher Richard Taylor is standing trial for their murder.

Alan and Carla Rutherford’s neighbour, Karen Monk, frantically called 9-1-1 after Alan showed up at her door in July of 2018 covered in burns and bleeding.

Monk took the stand today in the first-degree murder trial of Richard Taylor. She told the court that at first, she didn’t recognize her neighbour Alan who was slumped over on her porch.

Monk told the jury, “he was burnt. He had skin falling off of him, he was naked.”

Alan was begging for help and told Monk that his house was firebombed and his wife was still inside.

In the moments that followed the 9-1-1 call, Monk testified that she asked Alan if there was anyone she could call for him.

“Don’t call Rich. He did this. He will already know about it,” Alan told Monk, according to her testimony.

Both Alan and Carla died.

At the time, police said the fire was deliberately set at the couple’s Dundas home. In the Crown’s opening statement today, the jury was told that Richard was the executor of his mother’s will.

The Crown told the jury today that in 2018 Richard Taylor’s financial situation was dire and that he falsified bank records and kept his wife in the dark about how bad the situation really was.

During this six week trial, the Crown said Taylor’s wife will take the stand.

The trial will resume Thursday.