A 12-YEAR-OLD boy spent his harrowing last moments locked in a basement – throwing up and screaming as his two mums watched him on camera, a court heard.
The child, only identified as LL, was found soaking wet, unresponsive and emaciated in the basement of lesbian couple, Becky Hamber and Brandy Cooney.
The duo, who were trying to adopt the young boy, pleaded not guilty to charges of first-degree murder, unlawful confinement and assault with a weapon at a court in Milton, Ontario.
He had allegedly been locked up in the basement for hours crying and screaming.
According to prosecutors, he kicked and punched the locked door.
On the day LL sadly passed, the women instructed him to walk around his room and do yoga poses.
In footage shown to the court the couple could be heard screaming at him, the video cut-off at 5pm.
Faisel Modhi, a Halton Children’s Aid Society (CAS) protection worker, claimed the clips were likely to have been deleted or switched off.
Cooney and Hamber allegedly told Modhi in an interview the day after he died that LL seemed calmer on December 21, 2022.
But after checking on him Cooney told Modhi she found “vomit everywhere” and he was unresponsive.
Paramedics found him inexplicably soaking wet, cold and with a wetsuit on the floor nearby.
Modhi claimed the woman said they called 911 and performed CPR before he was rushed to hospital by paramedics but died shortly after.
LL’s body temperature was dangerously low, although a pathologist has testified that he could not determine his cause of death.
After being examined, they concluded he was severely malnourished, emaciated and weighing the same as a six-year-old.
In his final moments, LL kicked and punched the locked door, at one point pleading: “This is not going to get any better,” according to prosecutors.
JL recently testified in a judge-alone trial.
He claimed the lesbian couple spent five years torturing him and his brother by forcing them to wear hockey helmets and wetsuits for hours on end.
He alleged the women would lock him and his brother in their rooms at night while watching them with cameras.
JL claimed in court that his potential adoptive parents would often ban him from speaking for days at a time.
Earlier on the day LL died, it was claimed he had been throwing up.
LL slept in a measly cot that was frequently covered by vomit, according to Modhi.
Cooney’s father, who lived with the couple, previously informed Modhi that LL’s bed was rarely washed, and if it was he used a wipe.
He told Modhi: “Do you know how much laundry [Hamber and Cooney] had to do already?”
The couple told the protection worker, LL was largely by himself the day he tragically died, except for when he threw up his breakfast and lunch.
They told Modhi their prospective son had an eating disorder and that was why he was just “48 pounds,” and he would “throw up food, chew it again and lick it off the floor.”
A video of the boys room was shown to the court and a voice belonging to Hamber told him to, “lay down because he was being disrespectful.”
Cooney admitted to Modhi that she took LL’s blanket later that day, telling him to “calm down.”
The women’s lawyers argue the pair were doing their best to care for the two brothers who needed a considerable amount of care, while The Crown argues the couple hated, abused and neglected the children, and exaggerated or made up many of the behavioural problems they reported to service providers.
Modhi began investigating Cooney and Hamber after LL died and while JL, his younger brother, was still in their care.
The boys were under government care in Ottawa, where they are from, before moving to Burlington to live with the couple from 2017 to 2022.
It was unclear to Modhi how the pair communicated with the child, but the court has heard they would often use an intercom or camera speaker instead of going into his room.
Hamber and Cooney denied deleting any videos and said their internet connection was, “spotty” and that many off their cameras didn’t always work.
Another video shown in court showed LL sobbing as he said: “I only did one thing wrong I can’t do them all night.”
After his brothers death JL told Modhi: “Everything is OK, everything is fine — nothing needs to change.”
A CAS supervisor decided not to remove JL from Cooney’s and Hamber’s care that night, Modhi said.
But just 24 hours later a CAS worker and cops removed him from the couples care.
A court heard JL would cry in the presence of Cooney and Hamber but when he was alone with CAS workers he was completely the opposite, appearing happy and talkative.
Hamber’s lawyer questioned Modhi’s credibility claiming he wasn’t aware of the boy’s violent outbursts at school.
The trial is expected to continue into December.
