New revelations have surfaced in the disturbing case of a Canadian couple accused of mistreating their two foster sons, with allegations pointing to their involvement in one child’s tragic death.

The ongoing trial of Brandy Cooney, 43, and Becky Hamber, 45, has captured attention in Ontario Superior Court as it enters its fifth month. The couple is facing serious charges, including first-degree murder, unlawful confinement, assault with a weapon, and neglecting to provide essential care for their adopted 12-year-old son, identified as L.L.

Both women have pleaded not guilty to all charges.

On Tuesday, Hamber took the stand, asserting that she and her wife deeply cared for L.L. and his younger brother, J.L., who is now 13 years old. The couple had intentions to adopt both boys before the tragic incident that led to L.L.’s death on December 21, 2022.

Hamber justified the couple’s controversial methods of restraining the boys, claiming measures like zip-tying hockey helmets were to prevent them from injuring themselves by banging their heads. According to the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, she also detailed how she came up with the idea of making the boys wear wetsuits, which she likened to giving them “a hug.”

According to Hamber, child aid workers and health professionals who checked on the boys knew about the women’s methods and never raised any concerns with them.

The women have said that they used the wetsuits to keep the kids from urinating or defecating all over the place, adding that they would lock the outside of the children’s rooms when they were inside and monitor their movements when they were let out through security cameras and bells placed above doors.

But the restrictions on the kids went beyond concerns for safety, prosecutors allege. The children were kept inside their rooms for 18 hours at a time, with J.L. testifying that in the last year of his brother’s life, he would hardly see him except when passing him in the hall.

Hamber also testified this week about zip-tying J.L.’s shoes to his feet, saying it seemed “smart” and “viable.” However, she expressed regret for this action, calling it “one of the stupidest decisions we could have made.” She added: “It was an absolutely horrendous decision and should never have happened.”

On a typical night with the boys, Hamber said, at about 6 p.m., the kids were sent to their rooms “to decompress” before bed. They had no blankets and slept in mesh tents. Cooney would let the boys out once at night to use the bathroom before they would be locked back in their rooms, Hamber added, per the CBC.

The Indigenous children had been in the women’s care for more than four years, having been moved from their long-term foster home in 2017. On that harrowing Dec. 21, 2022, night, first responders arrived at Hamber and Cooney’s Milton, Ontario, home to find L.L. unresponsive, soaking wet, and covered in vomit. He was reportedly so emaciated that, though he was 12 years old, he looked like he could have been 6.

He was later pronounced dead — possibly from hypothermia or cardiac arrest due to severe malnourishment, a pathologist said, but they were unable to rule on an exact cause of death.

Prosecutors maintain that the women “hated, abused, and neglected” the boys, pointing to Google searches in the days leading up to L.L.’s death.

“I hate my child,” someone in the house searched two days before L.L. died. Days before that, another search apparently read, “I did not love my adopted child.”

The trial began in September. Hamber is expected to continue testifying on Wednesday.