Ontario judge to rule in murder trial of Burlington women accused in boy's death

A ruling due Tuesday will close one chapter in a case that has forced Ontario child-welfare institutions to confront what they missed, and when they knew it.

Becky Hamber, 46, and Brandy Cooney, 44, have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and related charges in the death of 12-year-old L.L. They were also accused of torturing and confining his younger brother, J.L., who is now 14. Superior Court Justice Clayton Conlan has been hearing the case in Milton since mid-September 2025 and has described the proceedings as lengthy and difficult.

The boys were in Hamber and Cooney’s care for more than five years, from October 2017 until L.L.’s death in December 2022. CBC reported that L.L. was found emaciated, soaking wet and unresponsive in the Burlington home, then died shortly afterward in hospital. Trial evidence included testimony that he had been dangerously thin for more than a year before his death, and a psychiatrist said he would have been alive if he had been taken to hospital when urged.

The case has also centered on how much child-protection authorities knew before the boy died. Trial reporting said the Children’s Aid Society was aware of some of the restraint practices alleged in the home, including claims that the boys were zip-tied into one-piece pyjamas and otherwise restrained. Former child advocate Irwin Elman has said the public deserves to know whether the agency has been held accountable.

That institutional question now sits alongside the criminal ruling. The pending decision will not only determine the outcome for Hamber and Cooney, but also sharpen scrutiny of the systems that kept two children in the same home for years while warning signs accumulated.

Only one person from the boys’ biological family had testified before the mother spoke publicly through an emailed statement shared with CBC Hamilton via her lawyer in a separate civil lawsuit. She said the family is “not just a case or story,” and asked the public to remember L. for his life, not only for the tragedy of his death. J.L. is living with his mother, and the two have rebuilt their relationship after years apart.

The family has also filed a separate civil lawsuit seeking more than $4 million, naming the Halton and Ottawa Children’s Aid Societies, Hamber, Cooney and three doctors. With the criminal ruling imminent, the case is moving into a new phase that may test not just the evidence against two accused women, but the oversight promised to children placed in care.