The trial of two Ontario women accused of murdering their foster son continues in a Milton courtroom today following disturbing allegations that emerged during last week’s court proceedings.
Brandy Cooney and Becky Hamber have been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the 2022 death of a 12-year-old boy known in court as L.L., whom they were in the process of adopting.
The women are also charged with assault with a weapon, forcible confinement, and failing to provide essential care for L.L.’s younger brother, known as J.L. A publication ban is in place to protect the identity of the indigenous brothers who had been in the care of Hamber and Cooney since 2017.
Cooney, 43, and Hamber, 45, have pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Several unsettling allegations have come to light during the judge-alone trial in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice in Milton, Ont., since the proceedings began in mid-September.
The court heard L.L. was 12 when he was found unresponsive, soaking wet, and covered in vomit in Cooney and Hamber’s Burlington home on Dec. 21, 2022.
Crown attorney Monica MacKenzie said he was so severely emaciated that L.L was the size of a six-year-old. He was later pronounced dead, potentially due to hypothermia or cardiac arrest resulting from extreme malnourishment, a pathologist testified, but told the court the precise cause of death remained unclear.
Cooney and Hamber are accused by the Crown of forcing the boys to wear wet suits and hockey helmets that were zip-tied in place. MacKenzie has also accused them of making both children sleep in mesh tents, giving them only pureed food to eat, and exchanging derogatory messages about the boys.
Their defence attorneys have argued that the couple did everything they possibly could to care for children with substantial needs and considerable behavioural issues, but received little help from the Children’s Aid Society and service providers.
Confinement Allegations
The boys were allegedly confined to their bedrooms for periods of up to 18 hours. The Crown accused the women of using a “restraint system” that included zip-tying wet suits onto the boys to restrict their hand movement and, at times, zip-tying helmets to their heads to prevent self-harm.J.L., now 13, testified via video conference earlier this fall that he was forced to wear a wetsuit to prevent him from urinating on the walls of his bedroom, something he maintained he had never done.
He said he was forced to sleep in a tent while dressed in a wetsuit with a onesie over it, all held together with zip-ties. He then had a “sleep sack” on top, which was secured with buttons and more zip-ties.
He also told the court his mattress, blankets, and pillow would be taken away, forcing him to lay in the tent atop the bed’s support structure of wooden slats.
He described the clothing and sleeping arrangements as uncomfortable and hot. “It was literally so tight you could barely move in that thing,” he told the court. “There was basically no air that could circulate.”
Cooney stated during her testimony on Dec.12 that she and her wife loved and cared for the boys and did their best under challenging circumstances.
MacKenzie accused Cooney and her wife of trying to “control” and “torture” the boys.
Cooney acknowledged restraining them, but said this was because the children had caused injuries to her and Hamber, and posed a risk of self-harm, such as hitting their heads on hard surfaces. She also said the children urinated and defecated indiscriminately.
The Crown disputed those claims this week, emphasizing that the women took no photos or videos of these incidents, despite recording many other types of videos of the boys. MacKenzie suggested if the boys had accidents, it was because they were seldom permitted to leave their rooms to use the bathroom.
Cooney also said CAS knew she and Hamber used zip ties and their worker only instructed them to not to use them to keep the boys confined to the tents on their beds.
The court was informed that a Halton CAS worker sent an email to the two women on July 3, 2019, regarding the issue, in which she recognized that the pair used zip ties to prevent the boys from removing their clothing, with the intention of managing “urine” and ensuring “safety.”
Neglect Allegations
The Crown is alleging the women “despised” and neglected the boys and showed the court text messages exchanged between the women. One message from Cooney reportedly asked, “Can I just not feed at all?” to which Hamber replied, “No food unless calm.”MacKenzie told the court the women locked the kitchen cupboard doors and regulated the timing, location, and quantity of the boys’ meals.
She suggested L.L. had lost so much weight and his height was stunted because he was not being fed sufficiently and accused the women of withholding food.
Cooney denied the allegation on the stand, saying she and her wife always gave the boys an “adequate amount of food.”
Cooney and Hamber, through their defence attorneys, have claimed that L.L. and J.L. had developed an unhealthy relationship with food as a result of past trauma, and that they would resort to stealing and binge eating if access wasn’t controlled.
There were also allegations of the women zip-tying the boys’ lunchboxes shut to prevent them from consuming their lunch on the bus while heading to school. The Crown said the women sent instructions that school staff could only cut the zip ties off at lunch.
The boys remained at home during and after the 2020 pandemic, the court heard. Hamber posted pictures to Instagram of healthy meals she had prepared for the boys but J.L. testified that he didn’t eat any of those meals and that in the period preceding his brother’s death, he was exclusively given pureed food.
Google Searches, Texts, and Recordings
The Crown alleges that Google searches found on an iPad belonging to the women included phrases like “I hate my child” and “I did not love my adopted child.”Multiple text messages exchanged between the women were also read in court. Some described L.L. as rude and “a loser,” while other texts used expletives to describe the boy.
MacKenzie also played audio recordings police obtained from the women’s devices. In one lengthy recording, the women can be heard arguing with L.L., saying he’s doing stairs incorrectly. The court heard Hamber and Cooney would instruct the boys to walk up and down stairs for exercise, and has viewed videos of the occurrence.
In a video presented to the court, one of the boys repeatedly trudged up and down the stairs while wearing a wetsuit, a hockey helmet, and a cage, all secured with zip-ties at the back.
Some of the “consequences” for what the foster moms considered bad behaviour included forcing the boys to climb the stairs repeatedly, sometimes all afternoon, according to J.L.’s testimony. Other exercises like jumping jacks and burpees were also used as punishment, he said.
Police said the search histories on the women’s devices reveal queries regarding the deletion of camera footage and phone photographs, along with efforts to erase text messages on Christmas 2022, shortly after L.L.’s death.
The trial before Justice Clayton Conlan is set to continue today with more testimony from Cooney. Hamber is scheduled to take the stand in January.
