{"id":16569,"date":"2025-12-10T19:30:14","date_gmt":"2025-12-10T22:30:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2025\/12\/10\/brothers-locked-in-rooms-for-18-hours-restrained-with-zip-ties-overnight-co-accused-tells-ont-murder-trial\/"},"modified":"2025-12-10T19:30:14","modified_gmt":"2025-12-10T22:30:14","slug":"brothers-locked-in-rooms-for-18-hours-restrained-with-zip-ties-overnight-co-accused-tells-ont-murder-trial","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/2025\/12\/10\/brothers-locked-in-rooms-for-18-hours-restrained-with-zip-ties-overnight-co-accused-tells-ont-murder-trial\/","title":{"rendered":"Brothers locked in rooms for 18 hours, restrained with zip ties overnight, co-accused tells Ont. murder trial"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p>WARNING: This story details allegations of child abuse.In the last year a boy in Brandy Cooney\u2019s and Becky Hamber\u2019s care was alive, he and his brother were locked in their bedrooms for 18 hours, zip-tied into wetsuits, tube-like sleep sacks and hockey helmets, and surveilled on cameras, a Milton, Ont., court was told during Cooney\u2019s second day of testimony.Cooney underwent intense cross-examination Tuesday by assistant Crown attorney Monica MacKenzie.The Crown challenged Cooney\u2019s narrative from the day before, when she said she and her wife loved and cared for the boys and rarely used restraints, even though she claimed the brothers injured her and her wife, destroyed their Burlington home, urinated and defecated everywhere, and had unpredictable, explosive tantrums.Cooney and Hamber are charged with first-degree murder of the 12-year-old, as well as confinement, assault with a weapon \u2014 zip ties \u2014 and failing to provide the necessaries of life to his younger brother.Both women have pleaded not guilty.L.L. wore a wetsuit most of the time and was severely malnourished before he died. He\u2019s shown here in Cooney\u2019s and Hamber\u2019s kitchen on Aug. 22, 2022. CBC has blurred his face to protect his identity.   (Ontario Superior Court in Milton)CBC Hamilton is referring to the older boy as L.L. and his brother as J.L. as their identities are protected under a publication ban. The Indigenous brothers were in Cooney\u2019s and Hamber\u2019s care from 2017 until L.L. died in their Burlington home on Dec. 21, 2022.At death, L.L. was severely malnourished and weighed the same when he was six years old, the court has heard during the trial, which began in mid-September.Cooney\u2019s account of what methods she and Hamber used to control the boys changed from Monday, when asked questions by the defence.Cooney had said she \u201cnever\u201d used restraints on J.L., except when she held him for seven hours, comforting him.But when questioned by the Crown and Justice Clayton Conlan on Tuesday, Cooney said they restrained both boys for their own protection.\u201cYes I did use a jacket, so he didn\u2019t try to choke himself and die,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd yes, I did zip-tie the end of [their wetsuit] sleeves to stop them from using their hands to choke themselves out.\u201dCameras, bells, chimes used to monitor boysMost nights in 2021 and 2022, the boys would be zip-tied into wetsuits or sleep sacks, Cooney said.Bells were strung across J.L.\u2019s bed so the women knew when he moved at night, she said. Along with cameras in nearly every room \u2014 the videos of which the women watched on their phone much of the day \u2014 they suspended chimes above doors to alert them to where the boys were in the house.Cooney said they\u2019d also sometimes zip-tie helmets on the boys\u2019 heads to prevent them from punching themselves.\u201cRestraints were a last resort,\u201d she said. \u201cA lot of times, I\u2019d sing with them, try to talk them through things and hand them a journal. Sometimes you could redirect their behaviour by giving them a solid hug, sometimes a snack.\u201dBut after further questioning from MacKenzie, Cooney agreed the boys were \u201cat times\u201d restrained often.Over the years, the women had described the boys\u2019 self-harming behaviour and what they called uncontrollable \u201ctantrums\u201d to the Children\u2019s Aid Society (CAS), therapists, doctors and teachers, but these behaviours were rarely, if ever, observed by anyone else.The Crown pulled, from 8,000 pages of text messages between Hamber and Cooney, examples of what the women considered bad behaviour.Cooney, left, with J.L., Hamber and L.L. in a photo dated Oct. 24, 2022. CBC has blurred the faces of the boys to protect their identities. (Ontario Superior Court in Milton)In 2019, Cooney texted that L.L. got home from school and took off his jacket and splash pants, which appeared to make her angry. She wrote to Hamber he was a \u201cuseless pee baby\u201d and Hamber responded \u201che needs spanking.\u201dOther examples that prompted the women to text insults about the boys included when one or both were sitting too far from the table, eating too fast, dancing in their room and \u201ctrashing\u201d their bed.In 2020, one boy said to Cooney, \u201cLove you more than just saying it.\u201d She texted Hamber she considered it \u201ctalkback.\u201d Hamber told her to ignore him. Long periods locked in roomsThe boys, who were kept home from school beginning in 2020, were sent to their rooms after dinner around 6 p.m. to \u201cdecompress,\u201d Cooney said. They\u2019d go to sleep a few hours later and she\u2019d wake them up in the middle of the night to use the washroom.As documented in text messages from 2021 and 2022, Hamber or Cooney would let the boys out of their locked rooms around noon. In the meantime, they had \u201cactivities\u201d to complete, including burpees, sitting against a wall, walking laps or reading, Cooney said. L.L. in his bedroom, wearing a wetsuit, in a photo dated March 19, 2022. (Ontario Superior Court in Milton)MacKenzie said this meant the boys had one chance to go to the washroom over about 18 hours \u2014 which Cooney denied, claiming Hamber let them use it when they first woke up around 9 a.m., although there\u2019s no evidence indicating this happened.The court previously heard that the women would scold L.L. for \u201cpeeing and pooping himself\u201d and say he was \u201cchoosing\u201d to do so in a misguided attempt to get what he wanted. J.L. has testified he\u2019d sometimes pee himself in his bedroom because he couldn\u2019t hold it any longer. Boys broke toys, plates, co-accused saysThe defence has argued throughout the judge-alone trial that the boys caused extensive property damage totalling tens of thousands of dollars. Cooney and Hamber had told CAS workers and therapists the same.But on Tuesday, Cooney could only recall smaller issues, like their screen door was dented, the freezer was no longer sealed properly, a corner broke off their glass table and pee was found under a cat tree.Four mattresses were ruined when the boys peed on them, she said. The boys\u2019 clothes would have holes and rips in them, and they\u2019d break cups, plates and toys.\u201cIs there anything else?\u201d asked the judge. \u201cThere is other evidence [in this trial] that led me to think there was complete destruction of the house, annihilation, worth thousands and thousands and thousands of dollars.\u201dIn response, Cooney said that one time, J.L. had \u201cripped\u201d a coat rack off his bedroom wall, creating four holes, and L.L. had \u201csmashed\u201d his closet door. Why co-accused didn\u2019t seek medical treatmentCooney and Hamber also told people the boys had injured both women, the court has heard.But Cooney said on Tuesday that they never sought medical treatment, including for J.L.\u2019s or L.L.\u2019s apparent self-harm. The only exception, Cooney said, was when L.L. \u201cpunched\u201d Hamber in the face, causing her to fall and fracture her arm. Hamber went to a walk-in clinic and got a sling, but not a cast because she was allergic to them.They had no documentation of this visit, Cooney said.\u201cThe reasons for restraints and locking them in their rooms was because you were so worried about injury to you or Hamber, or the boys or pets \u2014 injuries which never happened?\u201d said MacKenzie.\u201cThere were a lot of injuries over the years,\u201d Cooney said. \u201cWe were often hit, punched, kicked, stuff thrown at us.\u201d\u201cBut not to the extent that you had to seek medical attention?\u201d asked MacKenzie.\u201cNo,\u201d said Cooney.The trial continues today.If you\u2019re affected by this report, you can look for mental health support through resources in your province or territory.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>WARNING: This story details allegations of child abuse.In the last year a boy in Brandy Cooney\u2019s and Becky Hamber\u2019s care was alive, he and his brother were locked in their bedrooms for 18 hours, zip-tied into wetsuits, tube-like sleep sacks and hockey helmets, and surveilled on cameras, a Milton, Ont., court was told during Cooney\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":16570,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[118,1047,1],"tags":[116,1046],"class_list":["post-16569","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\/16569","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=16569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16569\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16570"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/service.codeus.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}