{"id":15400,"date":"2025-12-06T18:08:48","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T21:08:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2025\/12\/06\/accused-woman-blames-childrens-aid-society-and-eating-disorder-for-childs-death-milton-court-hears\/"},"modified":"2025-12-06T18:08:48","modified_gmt":"2025-12-06T21:08:48","slug":"accused-woman-blames-childrens-aid-society-and-eating-disorder-for-childs-death-milton-court-hears","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2025\/12\/06\/accused-woman-blames-childrens-aid-society-and-eating-disorder-for-childs-death-milton-court-hears\/","title":{"rendered":"Accused woman blames Children\u2019s Aid Society and eating disorder for child\u2019s death, Milton court hears"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>HamiltonIn a note written six months after a child died in her care, Becky Hamber said she was not to blame for his death, a Milton, Ont., court heard Friday.Earlier this week, court heard couple charged with murder demeaned child in text messages Aura Carre\u00f1o Rosas  \u00b7 CBC News  \u00b7 Posted: Dec 06, 2025 4:00 AM EST | Last Updated: 6 hours agoListen to this articleEstimated 6 minutesThe audio version of this article is generated by text-to-speech, a technology based on artificial intelligence.Brandy Cooney and Becky Hamber, left to right, are on trial in Ontario Superior Court in Milton, charged with first-degree murder of a 12-year-old boy in their care in 2022. (Becky Hamber\/Facebook)WARNING: This story details allegations of child abuse.In a note written six months after a child died in her care, Becky Hamber said she was not to blame for his death, a Milton, Ont., court heard Friday.Instead, she blamed decisions made by the Children\u2019s Aid Society (CAS) and an alleged eating disorder for resulting in the 2022 death of the 12-year-old, who was living with Hamber and her wife Brandy Cooney in Burlington, Ont.The note was discussed in court Friday, among other communications Hamber and Cooney made before and after the boy\u2019s death, all of which were uncovered during an investigation led by Halton police Sgt. Julie Powers.Powers\u2019 testimony wrapped up on Friday. She was the Crown\u2019s last witness in the trial of the two women, who are accused of first-degree murder of the boy they were trying to adopt.The two women are also facing charges of confinement, assault with a weapon \u2014 zip ties \u2014 and failing to provide the necessaries of life related to his younger brother. They\u2019ve pleaded not guilty to the charges.The brothers are referred to as L.L. and J.L. in CBC News\u2019 coverage of the trial since their identities are protected under a standard publication ban. L.L. died in Hamber and Cooney\u2019s care on Dec. 21, 2022. His brother, J.L., is now 13.The women were first arrested on Jan. 17, 2023, on the charges related to J.L., then arrested again on Feb. 29, 2024, for L.L.\u2019s alleged murder. Their trial in the Ontario Superior Court of Justice began in mid-September.\u2018Every day is a battle,\u2019 Hamber saidCourt heard from Powers all week. On Thursday, assistant Crown attorney Monica MacKenzie played the court a video of the statement Hamber gave to Halton police following her arrest.In it, she denied some allegations made against her and her wife and said the detective shouldn\u2019t believe J.L. as she said he was dishonest.Brandy Cooney, left, is one of the accused in a murder trial in Milton, Ont. Cooney is seen on a previous day in court as assistant Crown attorney Monica MacKenzie, centre, questions a witness. (Pam Davies\/CBC)Court heard more from Hamber on Friday through a note and videos found on a computer at the home where she was staying after being arrested and released in 2023 and before being arrested again in 2024.The June 14, 2023, note was for a group therapy session where she talked about how traumatic L.L.\u2019s death was for her and her wife, how she was struggling and missed L.L. and why she thought he died.Powers read the note from Hamber in which she said she and her wife were not the reason he died but rather why he survived as long as he did and says if she were to \u201cassign direct blame\u201d it would be to Children\u2019s Aid Society and what she said were their inadequacies \u2014 like \u201cignoring\u201d eating disorders because of a child\u2019s age \u2014 and inconsistent decisions made by their Ottawa and Halton offices. \u201cHow do children stay in a foster home that abuses them for almost their entire life without detection?\u201d she said in the note.Also in the note, Hamber said L.L. never got over the trauma he experienced with his biological family.She also said L.L.\u2019s alleged eating disorder \u2014 which the women and their lawyers described as binge-eating and turned into rumination \u2014 was the \u201cphysical\u201d reason for his death. She finished the note saying she missed L.L. and \u201cwould give anything,\u201d to hug him again.In the videos, which date back to May, June, September and October 2023, Hamber could be seen talking to the camera. She talked about how she\u2019s struggling, how she wanted to go home, how she thought about L.L. and J.L. every day.\u201cEvery day is a battle,\u201d she said in a May 1, 2023 video. J.L. and L.L., left to right, are shown in an undated photo filed as a court exhibit. Their Burlington, Ont., teachers previously described them as clever, curious and eager students. (Ontario Superior Court in Milton)They were \u2018happy family\u2019 despite struggles, Hamber said in videoIn a Sept. 26 video, Hamber denied restraining J.L., and said he must have been confusing memories with a previous, \u201ccontrolling\u201d foster family.In that video, she talked about how she shut the tent where J.L. slept a couple of times overnight using zip-ties because he got out of his room one night, assaulted their pets and \u201cengorged\u201d an \u201cincredible\u201d amount of food, before being told by CAS it was a fire hazard, after which they stopped.In an Oct. 5 video, Hamber also said they were a \u201chappy family\u201d despite the kids\u2019 mental health challenges. She said they were \u201cfunny,\u201d \u201csmart,\u201d and \u201cobviously shellshocked\u201d kids who she loved and was proud of.\u201cI don\u2019t have regret, I don\u2019t have guilt, I don\u2019t have blame,\u201d she said, and blamed CAS again for L.L.\u2019s death. During a short cross-examination, Monte MacGregor, Hamber\u2019s lawyer, questioned Powers about a video shown earlier this week in court. Powers had described it as showing Hamber taking a blueberry from L.L. as he cried and accused her of \u201cwithholding breakfast,\u201d repeatedly saying \u201cit\u2019s not fair\u201d and \u201cI\u2019m hungry.\u201dMacGregor cast doubt on whether it was a blueberry in the video. He showed a zoomed in screenshot of the video where L.L. appears to be holding something pointy. Powers agreed it could have been a thumbtack or pin instead of a blueberry. Women mentioned wanting to kill the boysEarlier in the week, Powers read texts from the two women where they described L.L. as a \u201closer,\u201d and \u201csuch an asshole.\u201d They also mentioned killing both boys at least four times in 2022, such as when Cooney said, \u201cI really just wanna murder.\u201dIn an exchange with her father dated July 26, 2020, Cooney said L.L. had a nightmare about dying alone.\u201cLoser whiner cry baby poor me owww\u201d she wrote. \u201cI faked my sympathy for the douche.\u201dPowers also went through the couple\u2019s search history this week, revealing searches for \u201cI hate my child,\u201d days before the boy\u2019s death in 2022 and \u201ccrime scene cleanup,\u201d weeks after.The court completed its questioning of Powers Friday. Defence will start calling witnesses on Monday.The trial is expected to run until at least mid-January.\ufeffIf you\u2019re affected by this report, you can look for mental health support throughresources in your province or territory.ABOUT THE AUTHORAura Carre\u00f1o Rosas is a reporter at CBC Hamilton. She\u2019s originally from Venezuela. She has extensive experience in covering stories about immigrants and migrant workers as well as interesting people with diverse journeys. You can contact her at aura.carreno.rosas@cbc.caWith files from Justin Chandler<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>HamiltonIn a note written six months after a child died in her care, Becky Hamber said she was not to blame for his death, a Milton, Ont., court heard Friday.Earlier this week, court heard couple charged with murder demeaned child in text messages Aura Carre\u00f1o Rosas \u00b7 CBC News \u00b7 Posted: Dec 06, 2025 4:00 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":15401,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118,1047,1],"tags":[116,1046],"class_list":["post-15400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-indigenous","category-ontario","category-uncategorized","tag-indigenous","tag-ontario"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15400"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15400\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15401"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}