A Canadian couple has been sentenced to life in prison after being convicted in the death of a 12-year-old foster child who prosecutors said endured years of severe abuse and neglect before dying from starvation.

Becky Hamber, 46, and Brandy Cooney, 44, were each sentenced to life imprisonment and must serve at least 25 years before becoming eligible for parole. Earlier this year, they were found guilty of first-degree murder, along with charges of unlawful confinement, ᴀssault with a weapon, and failing to provide the necessities of life.

The murder conviction stemmed from the death of the 12-year-old boy, who was found ᴅᴇᴀᴅ in the basement bedroom where prosecutors said he had been confined. At the time of his death in December 2024, he weighed only 48 pounds.

The charge of failing to provide the necessities of life related to the victim’s younger brother, who had also been placed in the couple’s care in 2017 and was subjected to many of the same conditions.

Now 14 years old, the surviving brother became a key witness during the trial. His testimony contradicted much of what Hamber and Cooney told the court and was ultimately accepted by the judge.

During the trial, Cooney described herself and Hamber as caring foster parents overwhelmed by two children she claimed suffered from serious developmental and behavioral challenges linked to early childhood trauma.

She testified that the victim’s extreme weight loss resulted from frequently regurgitating food rather than being deprived of it. Cooney also admitted that she and Hamber sometimes restrained the boys by securing them in wetsuits with zip ties and placing helmets on them, claiming the measures were intended to prevent self-harm and protect themselves from violent behavior.

According to her testimony, the couple had suffered repeated injuries over the years, including being hit, kicked, punched, and having objects thrown at them.

Prosecutors presented a sharply different account.

According to the surviving brother, he and the victim were routinely locked inside their basement rooms from 6 p.m. until noon the following day, with only a brief overnight trip to the bathroom. He also testified that they were forced to exercise while being monitored through video cameras installed in their rooms.

The court also heard evidence of text messages exchanged between the couple, including one sent by Cooney on Christmas Eve that read: “Tell them good luck figuring out burpees in the shower when they bitch about never having food.”

In his ruling, Justice Clayton Conlan said he found the testimony of the surviving brother to be credible and rejected the explanations offered by the two foster mothers.

“Overall, I found each of the accused’s evidence at trial to be replete with contradictions, inconsistencies and things lacking in basic common sense,” the judge wrote.

The younger brother also described watching the victim gradually weaken from severe malnutrition in the weeks leading up to his death on Dec. 10, 2024. He testified that at one point his brother’s weight had dropped to just 43 pounds. During the trial, even one of the defense lawyers remarked that the boy resembled “a Holocaust survivor.”

At the sentencing hearing, the surviving brother addressed the court alongside his biological mother, friends, and classmates of the victim.

“I won’t be able to see him, and I won’t be able to talk to him again,” he said. “Living with Becky and Brandy, I did not like it, and it should have never happened.”

Source: People