What to know about the trial today
Testimony in the trial for an Ontario couple charged in the death of one boy and what Crown prosecutors have alleged was the torture of his brother in their care continues today, with co-accused Becky Hamber returning to the witness box in Milton at 9 a.m. ET.
Crown prosecutors and defence lawyers have already spent four days questioning Hamber, 46, about the way she and wife Brandy Cooney treated the brothers in their care. Hamber has maintained she loved and did nothing to hurt the boys as they were going through the adoption process.
The Indigenous boys’ identities are protected under a publication ban. CBC News is referring to the older boy, who was 12 when he died in 2022, as L.L.. His younger brother, now 13, is referred to as J.L.
Hamber, 46, and Cooney, 44, have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder of L.L., as well as not guilty to confinement, assault with a weapon — zip ties — and failing to provide the necessaries of life to J.L. The judge-alone trial, which began in mid-September, is before Justice Clayton Conlan in Milton Superior Court.
Hamber is also set to testify again on Friday, the last scheduled day for proceedings. Prosecutors and defence lawyers are expected to make their final arguments in March.
