Retrial of Toronto mother once convicted of killing disabled daughter wraps up first week. Here's what happened
CTV
A Toronto mother’s fight to clear her name in the death of her disabled 16-year-old daughter Cynara continues as her retrial, in which she once again faces a charge of first-degree murder, began at a downtown Toronto courtroom last week. Here's what took place in the first week of proceedings:
A Toronto mother’s fight to clear her name in the death of her disabled 16-year-old daughter Cynara continues as her retrial, in which she once again faces a charge of first-degree murder, began at a downtown Toronto courtroom last week.
For the second time in seven years, Cindy Ali, now 52-years-old, is pleading not guilty to her daughter’s 2011 death.
Cynara, who lived with cerebral palsy and epilepsy, was unable to walk, talk, or feed herself, relying on daily care from her family. She died in hospital in February 2011, a day after Ali called 911 claiming that two men had broken into her Scarborough, Ont home and that her daughter had stopped breathing during the intrusion.
After about a year of investigation by the Toronto Police Service's (TPS) Homicide Unit, Ali was charged with manslaughter -- a charge upgraded months later to first-degree murder.
In the initial trial, which took five years to commence, the Crown argued that Ali had smothered Cynara with a pillow and fabricated the scene to cover up the crime. She did this, the prosecution alleged, because the burden of caring for Cynara had become too much.
The defence maintained Ali's account that Cynara had suffered a medical episode amidst a break-in. Cynara was loved deeply, bringing in a witness who testified to seeing two men of similar descriptions in the complex at around the same time that the 911 call was placed.
