The second-degree murder trial of Dennis Oland in the death of his father started Wednesday in Saint John, more than four years after Richard Oland's body was discovered in his uptown office.

Dennis Oland, 46, pleaded not guilty last week, in the death of his father Richard Oland.

The court heard on Wednesday morning that Oland died from 40 blows to the head.

The Oland family is well-known in the Maritimes.

It owns Moosehead Breweries Ltd., the oldest independently owned brewery in Canada. Richard Oland left the company in the 1980s, but was an accomplished businessman.

Justice John Walsh, of the Court of Queen's Bench, has been brought in from Miramichi to hear the high-profile case.