Murder trial hears recording of Ontario couple taunting younger boy, sees images of cuts on his feet

WARNING: This story details allegations of child abuse.

The sibling of a 12-year-old who died while in the care of a Burlington, Ont., couple was back testifying on Thursday, telling the court he and his older brother lived in increasing isolation. 

“In 2022, I don’t think I ever ate [outside] of my room,” the boy said Thursday, his second day in the witness box at the murder trial in Milton Superior Court.

He added that during his five years living with Brandy Cooney and Becky Hamber, they stopped him from going outside to play, took him out of regular school so he could be taught at home, and eventually stopped giving him school work to do.

The boy said he would be locked in his room for hours at a time and rarely saw his big brother.

J.L., as he's referred to for our coverage of this trial since the Indigenous boys' identities are protected under a standard publication ban, is now 13. Called by the Crown, he again testified by video from a separate room in the courthouse.

His brother, L.L., died on Dec. 21, 2022. The judge-alone trial — which began in mid-September — has heard 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.

Hamber and Cooney, who were in the process of trying to adopt the boys, have pleaded not guilty to murder. 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 hated, abused and neglected the children.

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.

On Thursday, Crown attorney Kelli Frew played the court the remainder of a September 2023 interview J.L. gave police. She had played the first part Wednesday. 

In the video, J.L. says in an interview with a detective, Julie Powers, that he missed meals “a lot.” He also describes being prevented from playing outside with L.L. because Cooney and Hamber said the two boys would fight. J.L. says he and his brother didn't fight any more than is normal for siblings, adding he isn't afraid of L.L.

Frew also played the court several audio clips and videos from inside the women’s house. In one, J.L. could be heard yelling, “Don’t zip it.” A woman responds, “Break the tent, you sleep outside.”

J.L. testified the women would zip-tie him in a tent to sleep and that he broke the tent on at least two occasions. He said sometimes, Cooney would come down in the morning before her shift at work to let him out to use the bathroom, then lock him up again. Sometimes, he said, he would be left for hours. At times, J.L. recounted, he'd pee himself because he couldn’t hold it any longer.