WARNING: This story references details of child abuse.

An Ontario couple found guilty of murdering a 12-year-old and confining and assaulting his younger brother while the children were in their care over a number of years will be sentenced July 3 in Milton.

Superior Court Justice Clayton Conlan set 10 a.m. ET for the sentencing of Brandy Cooney, 44, and Becky Hamber, 46, Justice Kendra Coats told a court hearing Friday.

Hamber and Cooney both appeared via Zoom from the Vanier Centre for Women, where they will remain incarcerated.

The couple didn’t address the court. They had pleaded not guilty at the trial that began in September.

Conlan also found Hamber and Cooney guilty of assaulting, confining and failing to provide the necessaries of life in regards to a second child they were attempting to adopt. 

CBC has referred to the Indigenous brothers from the Ottawa area using initials, L.L. and J.L., as their identities are protected under a standard publication ban.

Cooney and Hamber “hated the boys,” Conlan wrote in his decisions. They “deeply resented them having come into their lives and not having turned out to be what was expected.”

He said they confined L.L. in a “dungeon-like bedroom” as he wasted away and died in December 2022, demonstrating a deliberate intention to kill the child.

“He should be remembered for more than this.”

A conviction for first-degree carries an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years. 

L.L. and J.L. lived with Hamber and Cooney, their prospective adoptive parents, for about five years starting in 2017.

Days after L.L.’s death, the Children’s Aid Society took J.L. from the couple. On Jan. 17, 2023, Halton police arrested the women and charged them with assault. On Feb. 29, 2024, police charged the pair with killing L.L.

The judge-alone trial heard from 48 witnesses, with 209 exhibits entered into the record, as Conlan pointed out in his decisions.

Texts important in judge’s decisions

Conlan wrote he decided the case largely on text messages between Cooney, Hamber and Cooney’s father (who lived with the couple), J.L.’s testimony, evidence of medical professionals who treated L.L., the post-mortem findings and the opinions of two expert witnesses, and testimony by Hamber and Cooney.

Outside the courthouse after Conlan’s decision, the brothers’ former longtime foster mom, Heather Walsh, told reporters “L.L. was such a freedom fighter and justice was so important to him that this would be everything for him and for J.L. as well.”

In a statement on Conlan’s decisions, the biological mother of L.L. and J.L. thanked Conlan, court staff, the Crown and the defence for their work.

“Justice has been rendered and the trial is over. But for our family, this [is] our life. And the horrific nightmare that began for us long ago will forever now be etched in the memories of many,” she said. “This verdict does not bring our child back to us. But it does help us move forward.”

CBC Hamilton, which received the statement through the lawyer in the family’s separate civil matter, isn’t naming the mother to respect the publication ban on her sons’ identities.

If you’re affected by this report, you can look for mental health support through resources in your province or territory . If you’re in immediate danger or fear for your safety or that of others around you, please call 911.