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The 12-year-old – who is referred to in court only as L.L because of a publication ban – was severely malnourished and emaciated when he died in 2022
Andrea CavallierTuesday 02 December 2025 16:25 GMT
open image in galleryBrandy Cooney (left) and Becky Hamber (right) are on trial for first-degree murder in the December 2022 death of 12-year-old L.L. (Supplied)
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Two women facing murder charges in the death of a 12-year-old boy in their care referred to him as a “loser” and “such an asshole” in text messages recovered from their phones, a police sergeant testified in an Ontario Superior Court courtroom on Monday.
The court also heard an audio clip recorded by the couple in which one of the women calls the boy a “f**king p***k.” These messages were among the thousands of photos, videos, and recordings Sgt. Julie Powers testified that she had reviewed as part of the investigation into Burlington couple Becky Hamber and Brandy Cooney.
Both women have pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the December 2022 death of L.L., a 12-year-old whose identity is protected by a publication ban.
A pathologist said the boy may have died from hypothermia or cardiac arrest linked to severe malnourishment, but that his exact cause of death was uncertain.
The two women also face charges of unlawful confinement, assault with a weapon, and failing to provide the necessaries of life to his younger brother, J.L.
open image in galleryBrandy Cooney (left) and Becky Hamber (right) are on trial for first-degree murder in the December 2022 death of 12-year-old L.L. (Supplied)The prosecution argues that the couple “hated, abused and neglected” the boys and that they exaggerated or made up behavioral concerns. The defense maintains that the women were struggling to care for two children with special needs without any support.
The boys were moved from their foster home in Ottawa to live with potential adoptive parents Cooney and Hamber in Burlington in October 2017, according to CBC.
Powers told the court on Monday that she examined recordings made inside the home, including an 18-minute audio file in which L.L. repeatedly asks to go outside.
“Mama, may I please go outside?” the boy says in the clip. “I just asked you kindly.” No one responds.
The court then heard text messages between the two women, about the recording, as they describe L.L. as rude, “a loser” and “such an asshole.”
“He does needs go … far away,” Hamber wrote, later adding: “Bloody amazing if his new meds made him zonk.”
In another recording played Monday, a 24-minute audio file dated December 28, 2020, the women argue with L.L. about how he is doing the stairs they assigned him as exercise.
“There are no excuses for doing stairs incorrectly because you were assigned stairs as your job,” one of the women says. “If you fail to do stairs properly, it will result in more stairs and burpees.”
The recording ends with one of the women shouting and ordering L.L. to his room. Later in the clip, one of them calls him a “f**king prick” and an “idiot.”
open image in galleryL.L. was so emaciated on the day he died, he looked like he was six years old, even though he was 12 (Ontario Superior Court in Milton)
open image in galleryL.L. and his brother J.L. were moved from their foster home to live with the women in 2017 (Ontario Superior Court in Milton)Powers said early photos on the women’s phones show the couple with both boys, but over the five years they were together, fewer and fewer images included L.L.
Meanwhile, pictures taken in later years show both children wearing onesies and later, wetsuits, some with holes around the neck, which police allege were used to zip-tie the suits onto the boys. Investigators seized bags of zip ties from the home.
The Crown – the prosecution – argues the couple locked the boys in their rooms, surveilled them on cameras, zip-tied their clothes and shoes on, restricted food and forced them to exercise.
The defense has argued the wetsuits were worn because the boys urinated in the house, an assertion the younger brother denied when he testified earlier this month, CBC reported.
When Crown lawyer Monica MacKenzie asked Powers whether she saw any photos of Hamber with injuries she claimed the boys caused, including a broken arm, the officer said she found no such images. She also said there were no photos of the boys with friends.
According to earlier testimony, L.L. spent his final day alive, December 21, 2022, locked in his basement bedroom as Hamber and Cooney monitored him on camera.
A protection worker testified that the women reported to him the boy vomited, screamed, and kicked the door throughout the day. By around 6 p.m., he seemed calmer, they told the caseworker.
When Cooney checked on him, she found him unresponsive, “vomit everywhere,” and said they performed CPR before first responders arrived. Paramedics found the boy severely malnourished and emaciated, weighing roughly the same as a six year old child. He died shortly after being rushed to hospital.
The trial, which began in mid-September, is expected to continue into December.
