Lam sisters acquitted in 2022 killing of 88-year-old mother

A pair of sisters left the Ottawa Courthouse with lawyers by their side after being found not guilty Sunday afternoon of first-degree murder in the killing of their mother almost three years ago. 

It took the 13 jurors five days to acquit Chau and Hue Lam in the death of their 88-year-old mother Kieu.

Throughout the trial, the sisters never denied they killed her in her sleep. Both admitted so to police on the night of her death in October 2022. 

• 2 sisters charged with killing their 88-year-old mother

In the end, the jury accepted their argument that they acted in self-defence after enduring decades of abuse.

Chau Lam's lawyer Ewan Lyttle had told jurors the life the sisters knew was one of "isolation ... devoid of love, compassion and protection, and filled with control, violence and cruelty."

Both sisters left the courthouse Sunday evening as free women.

Hue, who has Parkinsons, was pushed by a lawyer while Chau walked slowly ahead of her. Another lawyer carried black trash bags filled with the sisters' belongings.

They have been in custody since their arrest. 

Crown prosecutors had argued that Chau, 59, and Hue, 62, brutally murdered their aging and frail mother. 

Prosecutors had told the jury the woman was "sleeping defenceless" in bed when the sisters smashed her head with a hammer and strangled her. 

Chau Lam, who testified during the trial, acknowledged that she was "angry" at the time of the killing — as she told police following her arrest.

Justice Narissa Somji delivered her instructions to the jury Tuesday night after hearing closing arguments, before sending them to deliberate on a verdict.

The trial started at the Superior Court of Justice in Ottawa in June.