Becky Hamber Convicted in 12-Year-Old Boy's Death

Superior Court Justice Clayton Conlan convicted becky hamber and Brandy Cooney of first-degree murder Tuesday in the death of a 12-year-old boy they were trying to adopt. Conlan found they acted with intent to kill the Indigenous boy, who died in the basement of their bungalow on Dec. 21, 2022.

The ruling ends a judge-alone trial and leaves both women facing the automatic sentence tied to first-degree murder: life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years. Conlan also found them guilty in relation to the boy's younger brother.

Clayton Conlan's finding

Conlan said the boy was severely malnourished and that Hamber and Cooney failed to provide adequate food and medical attention over the years he lived in their home. In his reasons, he wrote that they caused the child to "waste away into nothing" and said, "That persistence demonstrates an intention to kill."

He also cited the couple's texts, writing: "Other than saying, ‘we, the accused, intend to kill our son,’ they communicate everything else that one would expect someone with such an intention to say. The loathe. The hate. The resentment."

Brother's charges

Conlan found Hamber and Cooney guilty of forcible confinement, assault with a weapon and failing to provide the necessaries of life in relation to the younger brother. In that case, the weapon was zip ties fastened to the boy's shoes, which left deep welts across his feet.

The brothers were from the Ottawa area and had long been in the care of the Children’s Aid Society of Ottawa. At the time of the older boy's death, both were living with Hamber and Cooney, who were in their mid-40s.

Trial and sentence

Last month, Cooney testified at the murder trial in front of Conlan, with Hamber in the foreground. Tuesday's verdict leaves sentencing consequences attached to the murder convictions, while the findings on the younger brother add separate criminal liability from the same home.