Toronto Woman Acquitted in Daughter’s Death after 13 Years and 2 Trials

Cindy Ali, a Toronto woman who was previously found guilty in the death of her daughter, has been acquitted in a retrial. Cheers and applause rang out in a packed Toronto courtroom Friday as Justice Jane Kelly handed down that decision.

Ali was originally found guilty of first-degree murder in a jury trial back in 2016. She had pleaded not guilty in the February 2011 death of her 16-year-old daughter Cynara, who had cerebral palsy and was unable to walk, talk or feed herself.

Ali successfully appealed that conviction in 2021, and was granted a new trial, which started last October.

In her decision, Kelly wrote that her conclusion hinged on reasonable doubt, and said the Crown had not proven that Ali caused her daughter’s death.

During the initial trial, Ali testified she was home alone with Cynara one morning when two masked men in black suits rang her doorbell and pushed their way into her home demanding a mysterious package, which they never found. Ali said one of the men had a gun and made her take him through various rooms in the house in search of the package while Cynara lay on the living room couch with the other man nearby.

Cynara was pulled off life support in a Toronto hospital in February 2011, two days after emergency personnel, responding to the 911 call, found her without vital signs.

James Lockyer, one of Ali’s lawyers, called the judge’s decision ‘justice’ when speaking to reporters outside the courthouse.

Adam Carter is a Newfoundlander who now calls Toronto home. You can follow him on Twitter @AdamCarterCBC or drop him an email at [email protected]. With files from The Canadian Press.