Children’s Aid Society alerted multiple times before boy died in Ontario women's care, murder trial told

In the years leading up to the death of a 12-year-old boy in the home of his prospective adoptive parents, the Children’s Aid Society (CAS) had received at least a half dozen reports from people with concerns about possible abuse and neglect, an Ontario court has heard.

But the boy and his younger brother remained in the care of Brandy Cooney and Becky Hamber for over five years, from October 2017 to December 2022, when the boy was found emaciated, soaking wet and unresponsive in their Burlington home.

He died in hospital a short time later.

The women are now on trial, accused of the first-degree murder of the boy, known in court as L.L., and of confinement, assault with a weapon and failing to provide the necessaries of life to his brother, J.L. The boys’ identities are protected under