Co-accused in couple’s Ontario murder trial testifies she was unprepared to deal with boy’s high needs
WARNING: This story details allegations of child abuse and references suicidal thoughts.
The second of two Ontario women charged in the death of a boy in their care testified for the first time Monday, saying she and her wife struggled to get him the help they felt he needed.
In her first day of testimony in Milton Superior Court, Becky Hamber, on trial for first-degree murder, said she and Brandi Cooney didn’t know the boy had serious behavioral problems before she and her younger brother moved in with them.
Hamber said the older boy would suddenly become violent and that when the couple first began experiencing problems, the Children’s Aid Society was not always helpful.
Hamber said that in 2018, the boy, known as LL for this test, called her the “stupid b-word” and pushed her down the stairs. She said she got to her feet, but hurt her leg.
That day, Cooney took the boy — who was also expressing suicidal desires — to a nearby hospital, where he remained hospitalized for several days, Hamber said.
Hamber’s attorney Monte McGregor asked him if anyone had given the couple a “strategy” for dealing with the tantrums he described at the time.
“No, he didn’t,” Hamber replied.
In October, Dr. Alan Brown, a child and adolescent psychiatrist at Oakville Trafalgar Memorial Hospital, testified LL possibly had disruptive mood dysregulation disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), reactive attachment disorder, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). He said he and his team have never seen the kind of explosive outbursts that Hamber and Cooney described, but he acknowledged that children may present differently at home than in care.
(name withheld)
Cooney and Hamber, both of Burlington, have pleaded not guilty in LL’s death. They entered similar pleas on charges of confinement, assault with a weapon – zip ties – and failing to provide the necessaries of life related to his brother, J.L. The identities of both Indigenous boys are protected under a publication ban.
The Crown argues that over the five years they were together, the couple grew to hate boys.
Testimony at the trial said the women called the children obscene and dehumanizing names, restrained them, locked them in their rooms for hours, forced them to exercise and pureed their food.
According to the couple and their defense lawyers, the women did their best to care for the high-needs boys, despite inadequate help from the Children’s Aid Society and health professionals.
In December, Connie said LL was not forced to exercise and was given adequate food, but she did not refuse to practice abstinence.
LL was 12 years old when he died on December 21, 2022. The trial heard earlier paramedics found him unresponsive, drenched and lying on the basement floor of his bedroom, which was locked from the outside. Eyewitnesses said he was so severely malnourished and emaciated that he looked as if he could be six years old, even though he was twice his age. He died in hospital shortly afterwards.
JL, now 13, testified earlier In testing.
Defense attorney asks Hamber about the meal
On Monday, McGregor asked Hamber a series of questions about her time with the boys, addressing topics that came up throughout the trial.
For example, they asked them about food photos they posted on Instagram, many of which had captions about cooking for children with special needs.
JL testified that during his time with Hamber and Cooney, they began feeding him an exclusively pureed diet.
Hamber described the meals as balanced and similar to what she cooked for LL and JL throughout her time there. They included quesadillas, pizza and breakfast sandwiches.
McGregor also asked about the couple’s income.
The Crown has suggested that they were dependent on money received from child support.
Hamber said he receives about $2,070 a month to care for the boys. She stopped working in 2018 and decided to care for the kids full time, Hamber said, and Cooney earned about $35,000 a year.
“Was money the reason you did it?” McGregor asked.
“Absolutely not,” Hamber said.
McGregor also asked Hamber questions about his childhood and family life growing up, his health, and work experience.
Co-accused details his childhood
Hamber, 46, said she was adopted as a child and grew up in an abusive home. She said she worried that childhood trauma might affect her ability to “connect with the child”, but she realized that after working with children and youth with special needs for more than 15 years, she could.
“I had no doubt that I could be a loving, warm and compassionate parent.”
She said she had always enjoyed working with children with special needs and told Children’s Aid that she and Cooney would happily adopt high-needs children as long as they received the agency’s help.
Hamber said, “I believe I knew very well what it was like to be an underdog growing up.” “I really wanted kids to have a voice.”
Hamber said the couple first expressed interest in adopting LL and JL at a large adoption event attended by representatives from children’s aid societies across the province. After several rounds of interviews, Hamber and Cooney were told they were the best fit for the boys and were able to meet them, she said.
Hamber recalled being excited and feeling connected to the brothers.
“I was pretty sure I’d probably become a mother.”
Hamber is expected to return to the witness box when the trial continues Tuesday morning.
If you are affected by this report, you may want to seek mental health support Resources in your province or territory.
Here are some other help resources:
from this guide Addiction and Mental Health Center It explains how to talk about suicide to someone you’re worried about.
