A lesbian couple in Canada has been convicted of torturing their 12-year-old adopted son, who shrank and died as a result of the abuse, a court has heard. The boy, identified only as LL, had stopped growing and became shorter than he was a year before his death on December 21, 2022, while in the care of Brandy Cooney and Becky Hamber.
LL was found soaking wet, unresponsive and emaciated in the basement of the couple's home in Ontario before being rushed to hospital, where he later died. He and his brother, JL, had been living with the couple since 2017 after being moved from a foster home in Ottawa. The couple had planned to adopt the Indigenous brothers, but the adoption was never finalised, and the boys remained wards of the Children's Aid Society (CAS).
During the trial, the family's physician, Dr Graeme Duncan, testified that at a December 13, 2022 appointment, just days before LL's death, the boy appeared 'normal' despite losing 10lbs in one year and weighing less than he did at the age of six. Social worker Stefanie Peachey told the court she had recorded 'yellow flags' after seeing the surviving brother zip-tied into his pyjamas, but did not report it as she thought it 'just needed to be monitored'.
Peachey said the couple requested she not ask the boys direct questions and suggested withholding sessions as punishment. In the summer of 2020, the couple told her they did not think the sessions were helping, leading her to transfer her files. In those files, she noted JL had told her the restraints were used to prevent him from urinating on things when upset, which she discussed with the couple but found 'uncomfortable'.
Dr Duncan said the women told him LL had an eating disorder and was vomiting daily, so he referred him to an eating disorder clinic. However, Hamber's attorney argued Duncan should have known the boy was a 'ticking time bomb' at risk of cardiac death. A pathologist previously told the court he could not yet determine the exact cause of death.
