SynopsisA Canadian couple, Becky Hamber and Brandy Cooney, have been sentenced to life in prison for the first-degree murder of a 12-year-old foster child. Convicted of murder, confinement, and assault, the pair also faced charges for abusing the boy's younger brother. Testimony revealed the children were locked in their rooms, restrained, and monitored.ReutersOntario couple who took in foster child then assaulted and starved him to death after locking him in a basement bedroom, learn fate. (File photo used only for representational purpose only)A Canadian couple who murdered a 12-year-old boy they took as a foster child learned their fate and were sentenced to life in prison following the conviction. The Burlington, Ontario couple, Becky Hamber and Brandy Cooney, were given life in prison with no chance of parole for at least 25 years, according to CBC News. It is pertinent to mention that it is the automatic sentence for a first-degree murder conviction.In May 2026, Hamber and Cooney were convicted of first-degree murder along with charges of confinement, assault with a weapon, and failing to provide the necessaries of life. The court also found them guilty of assaulting, confining, and neglecting the younger brother, sentencing both women to several years in prison to be served concurrently with their life terms.The two victims, whose identities are protected by a publication ban, were locked in their bedrooms for 18 hours, zip-tied into wetsuits, tube-like sleep sacks, and hockey helmets, and surveilled on cameras, a Milton, Ontario court was told during Cooney’s second day of testimony, CBC reported. Prosecutors revealed that the two had locked a 12-year-old boy in his basement bedroom, where he ultimately died weighing just 48 pounds.Out of the four charges brought against Hamber and Cooney, the first three relate to the boy's death, while the final charge is related to the younger brother of the deceased boy, who was also taken in by Hamber and Cooney in 2017 and subjected to much of the same abuse as his sibling.What did Cooney say during testimony? The testimony of the surviving brother, now 14, proved pivotal, directly contradicting much of what Hamber, 46, and Cooney, 44, claimed in court. During her testimony, Cooney portrayed herself and Hamber as loving but overwhelmed parents struggling with two boys she alleged had severe developmental issues stemming from early childhood trauma, PEOPLE reported.She argued that the boy’s low weight was due to frequent regurgitation of food and admitted that she and Hamber would sometimes zip-tie the boys into wetsuits and helmets to prevent self-harm. Cooney insisted these measures were also meant to protect herself and her wife from the children, adding, “There were a lot of injuries over the years,” and "We were often hit, punched, kicked, and had stuff thrown at us,” according to CBC News.Surviving brother presented a starkly different accountProsecutors, along with the surviving brother, presented a starkly different account of life inside Hamber and Cooney’s home, describing how the boys were routinely locked in their rooms from 6 p.m. until noon the following day, permitted to leave only once in the middle of the night when they were woken to use the bathroom.During the trial, prosecutors also said that the children were forced to exercise under constant surveillance, with their mothers monitoring them through video cameras installed in the room.Read More News on