TWO lesbian foster mums forced a starving 12-year-old boy to wear a soaking wetsuit as they mocked him in chilling text messages before he was found dead in a basement, a court has been told.
Brandy Cooney, 44, and Becky Hamber, 46, are accused of subjecting the child – known only as LL – to years of cruelty before his tragic death on December 21, 2022.
Prosecutors argue the pair forced LL and his younger brother JL to wear wetsuits and hockey helmets for hours while keeping them isolated in their rooms and monitoring them with cameras.
The disturbing claims emerged as attorneys delivered their closing arguments in the women’s murder trial in Milton, Ontario.
Both women have pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, unlawful confinement, assault with a weapon and failing to provide the necessaries of life.
Emergency crews were called to the couple’s home that December evening and found LL unresponsive, soaking wet and covered in vomit in a locked basement room.
Paramedics rushed him to hospital but he was pronounced dead shortly after.
The court heard the child was so emaciated he weighed just 48 pounds (21kg) – roughly the size of a six-year-old.
His body temperature was dangerously low and a wetsuit lay on the floor nearby.
A pathologist said LL may have died from hyperthermia or cardiac arrest caused by severe malnourishment, although the exact cause of his death could not be determined.
Prosecutors argue the couple starved the brothers and subjected them to humiliating punishments because they hated them.
Chilling messages shown in court revealed the women allegedly mocking the freezing boy, writing: “Shiver, shiver dumb f**k.”
They also suggested he should exercise if he wanted to stay warm.
Prosecutor Monica MacKenzie said the pair were fully aware of the danger they were putting the child in.
She pointed to a text message sent by Cooney about a month before the boy died which read: “Unfortunately, my thoughts [are] he is suddenly going to die, and I’m going to jail.”
The boys had been placed in the couple’s care in 2017 after moving from government care in Ottawa to Burlington.
The women were in the process of adopting them.
But prosecutors allege the children were subjected to years of abuse inside the home.
LL spent his final hours locked in a basement room where he was heard screaming, vomiting and kicking the door as the couple watched him through the cameras.
At one point he reportedly pleaded: “This is not going to get any better.”
Earlier that day the women allegedly instructed him to walk around the room and perform yoga poses.
Footage shown in court captured a voice believed to be Hamber telling him to “lay down because he was being disrespectful”.
The video cut off at around 5pm.
Faisel Modhi, a Halton Children’s Aid Society protection worker, said the clips appeared to have been deleted or switched off.
Cooney and Hamber later told him LL seemed calmer around 6pm.
But when Cooney checked on him later, she found “vomit everywhere” and the boy was unresponsive.
They claimed they called 911 and attempted CPR before paramedics arrived.
Earlier in the day, the pair had allegedly taken away LL’s blanket and told him to “calm down”.
Modhi told the court the boy slept on a tiny cot in the basement which was frequently covered in vomit.
Cooney’s dad, who lived in the home, claimed the bedding was rarely washed and was sometimes just wiped down.
He reportedly told the social worker: “Do you know how much laundry [Hamber and Cooney] had to do already?”
The couple claimed LL suffered from an eating disorder and said he would “throw up food, chew it again and lick it off the floor”.
They said this was why he weighed just 48 pounds (21kg).
But prosecutors argue the couple exaggerated or invented behavioural issues to justify their treatment of the boys.
JL, who later spoke to police, told investigators the pair forced both brothers to wear wetsuits and hockey helmets for long periods.
He reported they were often locked in their rooms overnight and watched through cameras.
JL also claimed the women sometimes banned him from speaking for days at a time.
He said that during visits from Children’s Aid Society workers the women would dress the boys in normal clothing so the abuse was hidden.
The brothers were gradually separated inside the house after arriving in 2017 because, JL said, “sometimes we’d argue”.
When the women began homeschooling them during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, he said he rarely saw his brother despite living under the same roof.
Court footage also showed LL sobbing as he said: “I only did one thing wrong I can’t do them all night.”
After LL died, Modhi began investigating while JL was still living in the home.
When first asked about the situation, JL told him: “Everything is OK, everything is fine – nothing needs to change.”
A CAS supervisor initially decided not to remove the younger boy that night.
But just 24 hours later a social worker and police returned and took him out of the couple’s care.
Modhi told the court JL behaved very differently depending on who was present.
In the presence of the women he would cry, but when alone with child protection workers he appeared happy and talkative.
The defence has argued the couple were simply trying to manage two children with complex behavioural needs.
Their lawyers claimed the wetsuits and helmets were used to prevent the boys from harming themselves or having accidents around the house.
They also said social workers and health professionals who visited the home were aware of their methods and never raised concerns.
Hamber’s lawyer also questioned Modhi’s credibility, arguing he was unaware of alleged violent outbursts by the boys at school.
The case is being heard by Superior Court Justice Clayton Conlan without a jury.
He will decide the fate of the two women.
A brief update on the case is expected on April 24, when the judge may reveal when he expects to deliver his verdict.
