After appealing conviction in death of disabled daughter, Ontario mother begins new murder trial in Toronto

Nearly a decade after Cindy Ali was convicted of first-degree murder in the death of her severely disabled 16-year-old daughter, the Ontario mother has one more chance to clear her name as she goes to trial — for the second time — in Toronto this week.

Ali’s daughter, Cynara, died following an incident in her Scarborough, Ont. townhome on Feb. 19, 2011. She was 16 years old.

Ali called 911 that morning, reporting that two men had broken into her home and that Cynara, who lived with epilepsy and cerebral palsy, was no longer breathing. Firefighters and paramedics found both Ali and Cynara in the home – Cynara, without vital signs and Ali injured, conscious, yet unresponsive.

The teenager died in hospital the next day.

In the 2016 trial, which took five years to commence, the Crown alleged that Ali had fabricated the robbery to cover up the fact she had murdered Cynara.

The defence maintained that the home invasion was not fabricated, largely pointing to a neighbour’s statement that claimed two men had been seen in the residential complex shortly after the 911 call was made. They argued Ali had nothing to do with her child’s death, which they said was more likely connected to the consequences of a seizure.

The jury was tasked with deciding only whether Ali's story of a robbery could be believed and were not given any other scenarios to deliberate, such as whether the teen could have suffered a death by seizure or natural causes.

After a total of 10 hours of deliberation, the jury found Ali guilty of first-degree murder, a conviction that comes with an automatic life sentence.

The trial and conviction left some with doubts – and not just amongst the staunch supporters of Ali’s who have attended court appearances routinely since the incident, insisting upon her innocence. In a 2020 appeal, high-profile defence lawyer James Lockyer argued that the deliberation instructions given to the jurors were flawed.

The appeal was successful and Ali was granted a new trial. She served four years in prison before being released on bail in 2020.

Represented again by Lockyer and partner Jessica Zita, the proceedings began Monday at Ontario’s Superior Court of Justice in Toronto.

CROWN PRESENTS EVIDENCE, CALLS FIREFIGHTER

On Tuesday, two audio recordings of Ali’s 911 call, made just after 11:30 a.m. on Feb. 19, were played in the court.

As the call played out, Ali wiped away tears, her voice heard frantically yelling, "Help me" and exclaiming, "My baby!” to 911 dispatchers. While much of the call is indiscernible, dispatchers can be heard trying to obtain the address and whether a child had been hurt.

The call continues as first responders arrive at the scene, with voices heard instructing an individual to “get up.” At one point, a voice can be heard saying, "Get off the floor [..] don’t bullsh*t me."

The Crown then called the first responder that arrive at Ali's residence as a witness, a Toronto firefighter. He testified that he found both Ali and Cynara in the home, and was assessing Ali when he noticed Cynara lying unresponsive on the couch with a tea towel strewn across her neck.

The firefighter said he realized “something looked wrong” with the teen, before confirming she was without vital signs. “She looked very small,” he told the court. “[At the time], I thought she was about eight years old.”

He told the court he began resuscitation efforts on Cynara, which successfully brought back her vitals.

“It felt like forever,” he said of the efforts. “It could have been minutes.”

Initial cross-examination of the witness by Lockyer Tuesday narrowed in on whether a set of footprints was observed on the front steps of the house by first responders when they arrived. During Ali’s first trial, the firefighter testified that he hadn’t observed any prints on the steps – a claim taken into account by the jury when deliberating on whether they believed that a robbery had taken place.

The defence also sought to ascertain Tuesday whether it was possible the firefighter could have developed a bias against Ali at the scene, suggesting him as the owner of the voice who can be heard telling Ali not to “bullsh*t” him in the immediate aftermath of the incident.

Following that line of questioning, Lockyer pointed to an exchange of text messages between the firefighter and a documentarian in the years after the incident, in which he appeared to express upset upon hearing Ali had won her appeal and been released on bail.

The defence asked the firefighter if he held a “vested interest” in Ali’s outcome, to which he replied no, only a “vested interest in justice.”

“This case only matters to me when I resuscitated that little girl,” he said.

When leaving the courtroom Wednesday, supporters of Ali's said they were “relieved and grateful” for her second chance at trial.

The Crown’s evidence submission is scheduled to continue Wednesday, with the testimony of a Toronto police detective and initial statement videos.