What to know in the retrial of Toronto mother Cindy Ali, once convicted of killing disabled daughter, as defence kicks off

The prosecution has wrapped up its case in the retrial of a Toronto mother convicted of first-degree murder in the death of her disabled teenage daughter.

On Tuesday, defence lawyer James Lockyer began calling upon witnesses and evidence in Cindy Ali’s defence.

It’s the second time in seven years that Ali, 52, has faced a charge of first-degree murder in the death of her daughter, Cynara.

This time, a judge alone is deliberating the case.

Cynara, 16, died in the hospital in February 2011. The day before, Ali called 911 claiming two men broke into her Scarborough townhouse, located on Burrow Halls Boulevard, searching for a “package,” and that “her baby” was no longer breathing.

First responders found Cindy on the floor, seemingly uninjured, yet unresponsive, and Cynara on the couch in the living room, without vital signs.

In Ali’s 2016 trial, the prosecution argued she’d smothered Cynara, who lived with cerebral palsy and epilepsy, with a pillow and staged a break-in to cover up the crime. She did this, they alleged, because the burden of caring for Cynara had become too much.

The defence maintained Ali's account that Cynara had died during a break-in. They argued that one of the men guided Ali through the home looking for the package, while another stayed in the living room with Cynara. When Ali returned to the living room, the defence argued that Cynara was lying on the couch and that one of the men was holding a pillow above her daughter’s head.

The two men then proceeded to flee through the basement, the defence stated, claiming that they’d “gotten the wrong house.”

The jury deliberated for 10 hours before convicting Ali of first-degree murder and handing the mother of four an automatic life sentence.

Cindy Ali appears in a Toronto courthouse on Feb. 29, 2016. (John Mantha / CTV Toronto)

In 2021 Lockyer, alongside co-counsel Jessica Zita, argued that the instructions given to the jurors were too narrow and did not allow them to consider an array of alternative scenarios. Instead, they argued, the jury was forced into an all-or-nothing decision – acquit Ali or find her guilty of first-degree murder.

Ali loved Cynara deeply, counsel argued. When called upon to testify, Ali’s pastor, who’d known her for over 10 years, said her care of Cynara “set an example for others,” and described her as “an amazing mother.”

Cynara Ali with her sisters, celebrating a birthday in a Toronto Superior Court of Justice exhibit from Cindy Ali's 2016 trial.

Ali won the appeal and her conviction and life sentence were overturned.

READ MORE: Toronto mother convicted of smothering disabled daughter wins new first-degree murder trial

In a documentary on Cynara’s case that aired in October, Lockyer, known for a career of unraveling wrongful convictions, said that when he first heard Ali's’s story, he believed her initial trial had not been just, yet held doubts about her defense. But when he considered all the evidence presented, his theory changed.

“First, it was a miscarriage of justice. Now, [I believe] she’s innocent.

Presided over by Justice Jane Kelly, Ali's retrial began on Oct. 17.

Opening proceedings in early October, prosecutor Beverely Olesko outlined the Crown’s allegations – again, that Ali smothered Cynara, then staged the home to make it look like a robbery had occurred.

In the weeks since, the prosecution has called a number of key witnesses, including first responders, Toronto police detectives, and forensic and medical experts.

Here are some of the key moments so far:

911 CALL

First, the court heard the 911 call placed by Ali in 2011. Olesko then called Toronto firefighter Semahj Bujokas to the stand as a witness. Bujokas was the first person on the scene and brought back Cynara’s vital signs before she was transported to hospital.

In his testimony, Bujokas told the court he recalled almost immediately concluding that a break-in had not occurred.

On the 911 call, he can be heard yelling, “don’t bulls--- me,” to Ali. He also said that there was snow on the ground that day but that he saw no footprints.

In cross-examination Lockyer grilled the firefighter on the snow accumulation, as photo and video evidence presented, including CTV News video captured from the day of the incident, suggested that there had not been a significant accumulation. In later testimonies by a paramedic and a Toronto police homicide detective who responded to Ali’s home on Feb. 19 both gave different accounts of whether or not a layer of snow had been present on the ground that morning.

TORONTO FIREFIGHTER QUESTIONED

Continuing his cross-examination of Bujokas, Lockyer sought to ascertain whether the firefighter could have developed a bias against Ali in the initial moments he entered her home.

He pointed to an exchange of text messages between the firefighter and a documentarian in the years after the incident. The messages, sent from the Busokas’ phone to the filmmaker's, seem to express anger over Ali’s appeal.

“If there’s a retrial, I will make sure every question I want asked is asked, there will be no doubt, no question, and no chance, the outcome will be the same,” one read.

The defence asked the firefighter if he held a “vested interest” in the outcome of Ali’s case, which he denied.

CAUSE OF DEATH UNCLEAR

Charis Kepron, the forensic pathologist who performed Cynara’s autopsy, said the teen’s cause of death, cardiac arrest due to lack of oxygen caused by a brain injury, was “an undetermined etiology.”

“That’s a fancy way of saying, ‘I don’t know,’” Kepron said.

Kepron posed three possible causes of death: Cynara could have aspirated her stomach contents and blocked access to air, she could have asphyxiated, or she could have succumbed to ‘sudden unexpected death in epilepsy.’

Any is possible, she testified.

A MYSTERIOUS LETTER

Toronto police superintendent Andrew Eklund spoke to whether the supposed intruders could have mistakenly hit the wrong house, as Cindy said they remarked when leaving.

Eklund testified that he got in touch with residents whose home has a similar address to the Ali's and is located in the same townhouse complex. The homeowners told him that mail got mixed up between the two homes “fairly often.”

Wayne Banks, a TPS homicide officer, detailed an interaction he had with Cynara’s father Allan Ali.

Allan claimed he received a letter at the family’s townhouse more than a month after Cynara’s death. The letter, read aloud to the court by Banks, was seemingly written in the voice of the intruders.

According to the letter, the men who broke into the Ali home were told by a “boss” to go to “118.”

“Yes, we had the wrong house,” it read.

The letter's origins and author have never been ascertained. Following Allan’s report, all members of the Ali family submitted writing samples to police.