We begin with breaking news from a Toronto Courthouse a woman who had once been convicted of murdering her daughter with cerebral policy in 2011 was acquitted today that’s following the retrial of the case against the mother Cindy Elli the cbc’s Megan Fitzpatrick is following this story for us she joins
Us now from outside that Toronto Courthouse Megan take us through the verdict well when the judge read her reasons she reiterated what she had heard at the trial the retrial which took place last fall uh and that the Crown’s position had been that this was a quote unquote mercy killing that Cindy
Ali had made up a story about a home invasion to cover up her crimes and that she in fact had killed her daughter by suffocating her with a pillow and that it was Cindy Ali that was solely responsible for Sara’s death she was 16 at the time the defense had argued that
Cind Ali had no motive to kill her daughter um that she did not participate in or contribute to to the death of her daughter uh Cindy Eli had testified in her own defense at both of her trials and the crown had asked the judge to find Cindy Ali guilty of first-degree
Murder saying that she had planned her daughter’s death um that uh her daughter had had a few seizures the night before the incident and that Cindy Ali the next morning decided she no longer wanted to see her daughter suffering and had decided that her health would never
Improve and that she would uh put an end to to Future suffering for her daughter the crown had asked the judge if you can’t find her guilty of first deegree murder then find her guilty of second degree murder and their Theory there was that Cindy Ali was frustrated and
Exhausted uh for caring for her daughter for 16 years and that she just snapped and then the crown had asked the judge if you can’t find her guilty of second degree murder then find her guilty of manslaughter this is what was heard at trial arthy and today the judge
Explaining her reasons that there was not enough evidence to support any of those um theories really put forward by the crown the judge saying she was left with reasonable doubt that the crown did not prove their case Beyond Reasonable Doubt and therefore she was choosing to
Acquit Cindy Ali so at the end of reading her reasons she told Cindy Ali to stand up in the packed courtroom there were a lot of friends and family and supporters there and she told Ali that she was not guilty of first-degree murder not guilty of second degree or of
Manslaughter and Cindy Ali walked out of the courtroom and we know that Cindy Ali then stepped up to a microphone and you got a chance to ask her some questions too about how she’s feeling today now that the verdict is out what did you hear from
Her yeah I mean well she said this has been a quote rough road for her and her family this again has been going on for years uh her daughter’s death was in 2011 uh a while later police charged her she was uh on trial in 2016 found guilty
She appealed that verdict she won her appeal in 2021 then had the uh retrial in in 2023 uh she had been out on bail uh she was leted out on bail in 20121 I believe it was now today uh she said she is relieved that she feels good that uh
It’s been very emotional and that now she wants to move forward here’s a little bit more of what we heard from Cindy Ali after today it’s going to be our time as a family to start healing and and and grieving but not Forgetting Sara cuz she’s still here with me she will always
Be with me that’s her way of saying hey we did it mom so she’s saying her family needs that time to to grieve and to heal from this she thanked her supporters and she thanked her lawyers uh including James Locker he also spoke to us here’s a
Little bit of what he said about today’s verdict the fact that it took 13 years is is very unfortunate the fact she was charged in the first place is very unfortunate in my view but uh you know Justice delayed is not always Justice denied this was Justice delayed but
Justice finally got there at the end he said uh he felt a a feeling of quote sheer relief at this not guilty verdict when asked what can be learned from this case in this long legal battle he said that uh what can be learned is that police can sometimes R rush to
Judgment and he thinks that’s what happened in Cindy Ali’s case and that prosecutors sometimes follow the lead of police when they shouldn’t and that sometimes people get charged with crimes they did not commit now Cindy Eli and her family walked away from the courthouse here arthy we asked her what
She plans on doing for the rest of the day and she said she just wants to spend time with her family and her grandkids arthy Megan thanks for this that is the cbc’s Megan Fitzpatrick reporting in Toronto
Cindy Ali, a Toronto woman who was previously found guilty in the death of her daughter, has been acquitted in a retrial.
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