Background: The victim”s room in a photo taken after he died and filed as a court exhibit. (Ontario Superior Court in Milton, Ontario). Inset: Brandy Cooney and Becky Hamber (Facebook).
New revelations have surfaced in the distressing case involving a Canadian couple accused of severely mistreating their two foster sons, a situation that allegedly led to the tragic death of one child.
The ongoing trial of Brandy Cooney, 43, and Becky Hamber, 45, continues in the Ontario Superior Court this week. The pair is charged with several serious offenses, including first-degree murder, unlawful confinement, assault with a weapon, and failing to provide the necessities of life, following the death of their 12-year-old adopted son, identified as L.L.
Both Cooney and Hamber have entered pleas of not guilty to all charges.
On Tuesday, Hamber took the stand, expressing that she and her partner loved L.L. and his younger brother, J.L., who is now 13 years old. She stated that they had intentions to adopt the boys before L.L.’s untimely death on December 21, 2022.
Hamber attempted to justify why they felt it was necessary to use restraints or restrict the boys’ movements, mentioning practices such as securing hockey helmets to their heads with zip ties to prevent them from injuring themselves, as reported by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. She also detailed her approach of having the boys wear wetsuits, likening it to providing them with a “hug.”
Hamber further claimed that child welfare officials and healthcare professionals who had contact with the boys were aware of these methods and had not expressed any objections to them.
The women have said that they used the wetsuits to keep the kids from urinating or defecating all over the place, adding that they would lock the outside of the children’s rooms when they were inside and monitor their movements when they were let out through security cameras and bells placed above doors.
But the restrictions on the kids went beyond concerns for safety, prosecutors allege. The children were kept inside their rooms for 18 hours at a time, with J.L. testifying that in the last year of his brother’s life, he would hardly see him except when passing him in the hall.
Hamber also testified this week about zip-tying J.L.’s shoes to his feet, saying it seemed “smart” and “viable.” However, she expressed regret for this action, calling it “one of the stupidest decisions we could have made.” She added: “It was an absolutely horrendous decision and should never have happened.”
On a typical night with the boys, Hamber said, at about 6 p.m., the kids were sent to their rooms “to decompress” before bed. They had no blankets and slept in mesh tents. Cooney would let the boys out once at night to use the bathroom before they would be locked back in their rooms, Hamber added, per the CBC.
The Indigenous children had been in the women’s care for more than four years, having been moved from their long-term foster home in 2017. On that harrowing Dec. 21, 2022, night, first responders arrived at Hamber and Cooney’s Milton, Ontario, home to find L.L. unresponsive, soaking wet, and covered in vomit. He was reportedly so emaciated that, though he was 12 years old, he looked like he could have been 6.
He was later pronounced dead — possibly from hypothermia or cardiac arrest due to severe malnourishment, a pathologist said, but they were unable to rule on an exact cause of death.
Prosecutors maintain that the women “hated, abused, and neglected” the boys, pointing to Google searches in the days leading up to L.L.’s death.
“I hate my child,” someone in the house searched two days before L.L. died. Days before that, another search apparently read, “I did not love my adopted child.”
The trial began in September. Hamber is expected to continue testifying on Wednesday.
