Lam sisters called family for help amid alleged abuse before killing their mother, court hears
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On the day of Kieu Lam's death, her son received a call from his sisters asking for help after days of escalating abuse, only for their mother to take the daughter's phone away, a jury heard Friday.
The brothers are expected to testify next week when the defence begins its case.
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Sisters Chau Kanh Lam and Hue Ai Lam are facing first-degree murder charges in the death of their mother, Kieu Lam, on Oct. 31, 2022.
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Defence lawyer Ewan Lyttle, who is representing Chau, gave his opening statements to the jury Friday morning after the Crown closed its case against the Lam sisters.
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The jury heard how Kieu gave her daughters a life devoid of love, compassion and protection. Instead, Chau and Hue's life was filled with 'control, violence and cruelty,' Lyttle said.
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'Kieu Lam gave life to her daughters but Kieu Lam did not give her daughters a life.'
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On Monday, the defence will begin presenting evidence and calling up witnesses, where Chau and Hue are expected to testify through a Vietnamese interpreter. Their older brothers are also expected to testify to their mother's alleged abusive nature throughout their lives.
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The jury heard how the brothers witnessed the alleged abuse starting in the Lam sisters' early life in Vietnam, when they were beaten with straps, and continued at their home on Bowmount Street.
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One of the brothers will say that Kieu was ashamed of her daughters for not getting married and not being able to work at times, Lyttle said. When Hue developed Parkinson's disease and was unable to work, Kieu's abuse allegedly escalated further, as Hue was the family's main source of income.
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'They feared for their safety and had to kill their mother to end a decades-long mental and physical campaign of violence,' Lyttle said.
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The jury heard that Kieu made the 'whole family suffer' and one of the brothers had to physically prevent their mother from attacking his sisters, Chau and Hue.
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'Both brothers will tell you that their mother adhered to strict old-fashioned Vietnamese rules,' Lyttle said. In the culture they were raised in, he says no child would 'ever dare fight back.'
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Social Sharing The Crown opened its case two weeks ago telling the jury that Kieu Lam gave her daughters life, and they took hers when they killed her as she lay in her bed three years ago. The defence opened its case Friday admitting — as sisters Chau and Hue Lam have since the night it happened — that yes, they killed her, but Kieu Lam had never given her daughters a real life to speak of. Instead, the life they knew was one of "isolation ... devoid of love, compassion and protection, and filled with control, violence and cruelty," Chau Lam's layer Ewan Lyttle told the jury. Kieu Lam was ashamed that her daughters weren't married and sometimes couldn't work. She verbally and physically abused them, and that abuse got worse after Hue Lam developed Parkinson's disease, Lyttle said. The week before the killing, the severity of the abuse "further escalated significantly." And out of fear for their safety, they killed their mother to end it. The sisters have each pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in Ottawa's Superior Court of Justice. The Crown closed its case first thing Friday after formally entering two final exhibits, including Hue Lam's video interview with the homicide's lead investigator. (Both sisters were interviewed, and both interviews were played in court in their entirety earlier this week). Didn't go to police Chau Lam will testify, and explain why she and her sister stayed with their abusive mother and didn't go to police, Lyttle said. He warned the jury that her explanation might be hard to understand for anyone not raised under the pressure of their family's practices and norms, or anyone who hasn't been subjected to decades of abuse from a parent. "But we hope the evidence you hear will help you understand," he said. That evidence is expected to come from Chau Lam as well as her older brothers. The trial resumes Monday with the defence's first witnesses. Chau Lam is being represented by Lyttle and Brett McGarry. Hue Lam is representing herself, and the court has appointed defence lawyer Paolo Giancaterino to act an amicus curiae, or friend of the court, to ensure she gets a fair trial.
