Mom on trial for murder blames child welfare

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Woe is me. Poor me. Everyone else is at fault – but me.

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Becky Hamber’s 12-year-old foster son was dead – found soaking wet in a wetsuit, emaciated and wasted to the size of a child half his age on Dec. 21, 2022 – and she and her wife Brandy Cooney were facing numerous charges including first-degree murder.

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But in a computer note and several videos entered at their trial, Hamber went on endlessly about how difficult and unfair it all was – for her.

Her narcissism was revolting.

The two brothers, their names protected by a publication ban, were apprehended as babies from their birth parents, placed with an Ottawa family and then taken in by the married Burlington couple in 2017 in what was promised to be their “forever family.” Both children were said to be of Indigenous heritage and suffering from complex mental health issues.

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By 2022, the younger boy testified, he had to spend “92% of the time” in his room and slept in a zip-tied tent on his bed. He was fed only pureed food, he said, and forced to do repeated exercises as punishment, such as marching up and down the stairs, while wearing a hockey helmet.

On Dec. 21, 2022, the oldest boy was found cold and unresponsive after Hamber called 911 to report he was unconscious and must have choked on his own vomit. His brother was taken away soon after and the women were arrested Jan. 17, 2023 on various abuse charges related to him.

The following month, they were charged with first-degree murder.

Hamber, 46, and Cooney, 44, have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

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The Crown’s final witness, Halton Regional Police Sgt. Julie Powers has spent the week presenting damning recordings and texts seized from their devices where the boys were called “loser” and other derogatory names.

On Friday, she ended with videos Hamber made on a laptop after her arrest: On May 1, 2023, she complains about being “persecuted,” including bail conditions that didn’t allow her to return to her Burlington home and the “cruel and unusual punishment” of being separated from her wife.

“So it’s really hard to spend my days isolated, alone and sad. I cry all the time, day and night, night terrors, nightmares, flashbacks, you name it, it’s all happening.”

On June 5, 2023, Hamber recorded another whining monologue where the boy’s death is just a footnote.

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“So unfortunately, things happened. And one child was lost suddenly and tragically, and I’m not going to go into the details of that, because I won’t make it through,” she says.

“Lost?”

Then the second boy was taken away by CAS “without cause,” Hamber says. “And then just under a month later, cops show up at your door. You’re handcuffed and your life stops. You are put in prison, and you almost die there and all of a sudden, everything you ever knew, everything you ever loved, totally gone.”

Hamber’s conspiracy theory was that CAS was using the surviving brother to make false allegations to cover up for the agency wrongly informing them that the boys were Indigenous.

“They chose to use a child, a grieving, angry, sad, confused, traumatized child, to go against us. I do not blame the child. But CAS has everything to lose although they’re allegedly and seemingly untouchable by anyone, including God.”

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In a Sept. 26, 2023 video, Hamber denied the boy’s allegations of forcible confinement. Zip tying the tent shut on his bed was to keep him from getting out at night to gorge on food or harm the pets, she insisted, and it was removed after two nights when their child worker advised it was dangerous if there was a fire.

Putting him in a zip-tied hockey helmet was only to calm him down and keep him safe, she explained, not punishment.

On Oct. 5, 2023, Hamber marked six years since the boys came to live with them. They were a happy family – and it’s everyone else’s fault “there’s a child that’s dead.”

“I don’t have regrets, I don’t have guilt, I don’t have blame,” she proclaimed – and then went on to blame the CAS and the brothers’ school.

“You all failed to give the children the proper support and help and to help our family,” Hamber said. “And so you guys have accountability.”

But no, not her.

Her wife is expected to testify Monday.

mmandel@postmedia.com

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