The 12-year-old victim weighed just 43 pounds at one point, his younger brother testified during the trial
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NEED TO KNOW
- Brandy Cooney and Becky Hamber were found guilty of first-degree murder as well as additional charges of confinement, assault with a weapon and failing to provide the necessaries of life
- The two women were accused of locking a 12-year-old boy in a basement bedroom for 18 hours a day and feeding him only pureed foods before he died weighing just 48 pounds
- Ontario Justice Clayton Conlan wrote in his 300-page opinion that the decision by the two women to isolate and confine the victim in his basement bedroom while depriving him of food “demonstrated an intention to kill the boy”
A Canadian couple has been convicted in the death of a 12-year-old boy they were in the process of adopting .
Becky Hamber, 46, and Brandy Cooney, 44, were found guilty of first-degree murder as well as additional charges of confinement, assault with a weapon and failing to provide the necessaries of life for their treatment of the deceased boy's 10-year-old brother.
The two women were accused of locking the 12-year-old boy in his basement bedroom for 18 hours a day, which is where he died weighing just 48 pounds, according to CBC Hamilton.
Ontario Justice Clayton Conlan rendered his decision on May 5, marking the end of the bench trial which began in September.
In his 300-page decision, Conlan wrote that the decision by the two women to isolate and confine the victim in his basement bedroom while depriving him of food "demonstrated an intention to kill the boy."
In her testimony, Cooney depicted both herself and Hamber as loving but frustrated parents who were struggling to deal with two boys whom she alleged had severe developmental issues resulting from early childhood trauma.
Prosecutors highlighted the fact that the boys were kept locked in their rooms from 6 p.m. to noon most days and allowed to leave just once in the middle of the night when they were woken up to use the bathroom.
This task required the assistance of at least one of their mothers, prosecutors said, because the couple would allegedly make them wear wetsuits that were then zip-tied so they could not be removed.
While in their rooms, the boys were also forced to exercise as their mothers monitored them through video cameras they had set up in the room, prosecutors said during the trial.
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The women also used exercise to punish the boys, the CBC reported. A text message Cooney sent to Hamber one Christmas Eve that was introduced into evidence during the trial read: "Tell them good luck figuring out burpees in the shower when they bitch about never having food."
The brothers were aged just 10 and 8 at the time.
Conlan wrote in his decision that he ultimately believed the testimony of the surviving brother and not his mothers.
"Overall, I found each of the accused's evidence at trial to be replete with contradictions, inconsistencies and things lacking in basic common sense," Conlan wrote.
The young boy took the stand early in the trial, and recounted how he watched the victim slowly die from "severe malnutrition" in the weeks before he drew his final breath on Dec. 10, 2024.
He testified that at one point his brother weighed just 43 pounds, and one of the defense attorneys even noted that the victim looked like a "Holocaust survivor," per the CBC.
Cooney said during her testimony that the boy was underweight because the boy would often regurgitate his food.
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Cooney also admitted that she and Hamber would zip-tie the boys into wetsuits and even helmets at times due to their fear that one or both might self-harm.
She also said that she did this to protect herself and her wife from their children.
“There were a lot of injuries over the years,” Cooney said, according to CBC. “We were often hit, punched, kicked, stuff thrown at us.”
One of the boys allegedly shoved Hamber, said Cooney on the stand, causing her to fracture her arm.
Prosecutors rebutted this claim, and said in court that there were no records of any medical visit for Hamber around the time of the incident.
The most damning piece of evidence introduced at trial, however, proved to be another text between the two women.
"Unfortunately my thoughts [are] he is suddenly going to die and im (sic) going to jail," Cooney texted to Hamber a month before the boy's death.
Conlan addressed that text in his opinion, writing: "I cannot be persuaded that an innocent mother would ever text that to her spouse in those circumstances."
The newly convicted murderers will next appear in court for their sentencing hearing later this year.
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