In text messages, Ontario women accused of murder described boy in their care as ‘loser,’ trial hears

WARNING: This story details allegations of child abuse.

The Ontario Provincial Police sergeant who led the investigation into Becky Hamber and Brandy Cooney testified at their first-degree murder trial Monday, outlining evidence collected by police in the case against the couple.

Sgt. Julie Powers told the Milton, Ont., courtroom that she spent weeks reviewing photos, videos, audio recordings, messages and call logs on electronic devices police took from Cooney and Hamber when they were charged in 2023 in relation to two boys they were trying to adopt.

Early in their five years together, photos on the women’s electronic devices showed the couple and both boys, the police officer said in response to questions from Crown lawyer Monica MacKenzie. Over the five years they were together, fewer and fewer photos showed the older boy, L.L, Powers said.

Earlier this month, the younger boy, J.L., testified he rarely saw L.L. before the end of L.L.’s life and spent most of the time in his room.

The brothers are referred to as L.L. and J.L. for CBC’s coverage of this trial since their identities are protected under a standard publication ban. L.L. was 12 when he died in Hamber and Cooney’s care on Dec. 21, 2022.

The Burlington, Ont., women have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in L.L.’s death at the trial that began in mid-September in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice. They’ve entered the same plea related to charges of confinement, assault with a weapon — zip ties — and failing to provide the necessaries of life to J.L.

The Crown argues Hamber and Cooney abused and neglected the children.

The trial has been told that paramedics found L.L. unresponsive, soaking wet and lying on the basement floor of his bedroom, which was locked from the outside. Witnesses said he was so severely malnourished and emaciated that he looked as if he could be six years old, even though he was twice that age. He died shortly after in hospital.

The women’s respective lawyers argue the couple were doing their best to care for children with high needs and significant behavioural problems, with little help from the Children’s Aid Society (CAS) and service providers.

Witnesses — including first responders, medical experts, teachers, therapists, doctors and J.L. — have testified at the judge-alone trial, which is expected to continue until at least mid-December.

Photos from earlier in their time with Hamber and Cooney show the boys wearing normal clothes, Powers said, but around 2020, pictures show them wearing onesies. Eventually, she said, all photos showed them wearing wetsuits, or wetsuits under normal clothes. 

MacKenzie brought out wetsuits police seized from the couple’s home and showed the court. Powers said she saw photos of the boys wearing them and pointed out where they had holes on the neck to be zip-tied onto the boys. She noted police seized bags containing zip ties of all sizes from the Hamber-Cooney home. 

The defence has said the boys wore wetsuits because they were peeing in the home — an assertion J.L. denied when he testified. 

MacKenzie also asked about what the photos do not show. She asked if there were photos of Hamber with injuries such as a broken arm. The trial has heard Hamber told people one of the boys broke her arm. Powers said she did not see any images indicating that. 

The Crown lawyer also asked if there were any photos of the boys playing with friends. Powers said there were no photos of the boys with other kids at all.

The trial has seen images and videos of the boys recorded via security cameras in their rooms and around the house. On Monday, Powers said Cooney and Hamber used an app called Wyze to manage the surveillance system.

She noted that when police searched the house two months after L.L. died, the boy’s room had been repainted and security cameras removed. 

Powers said the women’ s search histories show inquiries about how to delete Wyze camera footage and phone photos, as well as attempts to delete text messages on Christmas 2022, days after L.L.’s death. 

MacKenzie also played audio recordings Powers obtained from the women’s devices, and asked the officer questions about them.

The court heard the women recorded meetings with health professionals, teachers, CAS and conversations with the boys.

In one nearly 18-minute file played for the court, L.L. can be heard asking repeatedly to go outside.

“Mama, may I please go outside?” he says early in the recording. “I just asked you kindly.” 

Nobody responded in the recording.

Powers read from multiple messages the women sent back and forth about that recording, in which they describe L.L. as rude, “a loser” and “such an asshole.”

“He does needs go … far away,” Hamber wrote, later saying: “Bloody amazing if his new meds made him zonk.”

In a 24-minute audio recording MacKenzie played for the trial Monday, Cooney and Hamber can be heard arguing with L.L., saying he’s doing stairs incorrectly. 

The trial has heard Hamber and Cooney would tell the boys to walk up and down stairs for exercise, and has seen videos of the activity.

“There are no excuses for doing stairs incorrectly because you were assigned stairs as your job,” one of the women said in the recording, which Powers said was made Dec. 28, 2020. 

“If you fail to do stairs properly, it will result in more stairs and burpees,” one of the women says.

Nearly all L.L.’s responses in the recording are inaudible or unintelligible. Cooney and Hamber can be heard saying he is lying and doing the exercises wrong. 

One repeatedly asks if he’s not listening to them because they’re parents, because they’re adults or because they’re women. 

“You don’t listen to us because you’re tired? Do you know how dumb that sounds?” she says when he responds.

After arguing for several more minutes, one of the women shouts and sends L.L. to his room. Later in the recording, one of the women says L.L. is a “f–king prick” and an “idiot.” 

The judge-alone trial before Justice Clayton Conlan is set to continue Tuesday with more testimony from Powers.

Until now, the Crown has called all the witnesses but the defence has said they expect to begin calling witnesses later this week. 

If you’re affected by this report, you can look for mental health support through resources in your province or territory.