New trial confirmed in the Candace Derksen murder case

The Supreme Court of Canada has ordered a new trial for the man accused of killing Candace Derksen more than 30 years ago.

Thirteen-year-old Candace Derksen disappeared on her way home from school in November 1984.

Six weeks later, in January 1985, her frozen body was found tied up with twine on the floor of a storage shed only 500 metres away from her family's East Kildonan home.

DNA tests from a piece of that twine led to Mark Edward Grant's arrest in 2007.

Charged with second-degree murder, Grant was looking at life in prison until the Supreme Court ordered a new trial earlier this month.

The Manitoba Prosecution Service said it will go ahead with a new trial at a date yet to be determined.

“It was our hope that upon reflection and a consideration of the evidence that's been commented upon by the Supreme Court and the DNA evidence that we have shared with the Crown, that they would look at this and recognize they're prosecuting an innocent man," said Saul Simmonds, Grant’s defence lawyer.

Part of Grant's defence was that nine months after Derksen's body was found, and at a time when Grant was in jail on other charges, a girl was found tied up in a box car in a similar way that Derksen was discovered.

The defence wanted to introduce that during the original trial, but the judge refused.

Mark Grant was convicted of the second-degree murder of Candace Derksen in 2011, but the Manitoba Court of Appeal overturned the conviction in 2013.

It said the original judge erred by not allowing the defence to present that evidence.

Earlier this month the Supreme Court upheld that decision.

A Manitoba Justice spokesperson provided the following statement Friday:

“After a thorough review of the matter, Manitoba Prosecution Service has determined that Mark Grant will be re-tried for the murder of Candace Derksen. Since it’s an ongoing matter, we won’t be able to provide someone to comment further.”

Derksen's mother said she doesn't know what to anticipate, but thinks she already knows who killed her daughter.

"I think that there was a guilty conviction last time, so I think that this time there will be another guilty conviction and I think that more clarity will happen, I'm hoping,” said Wilma Derksen.

The defence will try to get Grant out on bail.

-with files from The Canadian Press