Motherhood 'defined my life,' Adele Sorella testifies at trial for her daughters' murders

Adele Sorella broke down in tears several times, speaking about her two now-deceased daughters as she testified in her own defence Tuesday at her trial for their murders.

"It was the most joyous, happy and proudest moment of my life," Sorella said, describing how she felt when she learned she was pregnant with her eldest, Amanda.

Motherhood "defined my life," she said.

Sorella is on trial in Quebec Superior Court, charged with the first-degree murders of her daughters Amanda, 9, and Sabrina, 8, in March 2009. The two girls were found dead, lying side by side in the playroom of their Laval home.

Asked what her occupation is as she was sworn in to testify Tuesday, Sorella, 52, described herself as a "learner of life."

Through tears, she recalled Amanda's fair hair.

"She was warm. She had blonde hair and strands of yellow that seemed like they were kissed by the sun," she said. "When she hugged you, you felt like a warm blanket was surrounding you."

Eighteen months after Amanda was born, Sorella gave birth to her second child, Sabrina.

The court heard how during that pregnancy, Sorella was diagnosed with a tumour behind her right ear which caused her to lose her hearing in that ear. She refused surgery until after her baby's birth.

"The most important thing to me was to give birth to Sabrina," she said. "I wanted her so badly."

Six months after Sabrina's premature birth, Sorella underwent surgery to remove the tumour.

Difficult recovery

The surgery to remove Sorella's tumour was successful, but she testified her recovery was anything but easy.

Under questioning from her lawyer, Pierre Poupart, Sorella told the six women and six men of the jury she was left only able to partially close her right eye. Doctors considered placing a weight in her eyelid to help it close properly.  

She was only able to ingest liquids, through a straw, and she lost her sense of balance. Left paralyzed on the right side of her face, she could no longer smile.

"Losing my smile made me lose my sense of self," she said. "I was always very happy. To lose my smile, to me, was very devastating."

Sorella said she began a long and difficult rehabilitation. At the same time, she said she did not feel right.

"That was the start of my mental illness," she told the court. "I knew there was something wrong with me, but I didn't know what was wrong with me."

Sorella said it was more than two years before she could properly look after her daughters again.

Relationship with husband deteriorated

Sorella described her relationship with the girls' father, her husband Giuseppe (Joe) De Vito. She said the two were childhood sweethearts, having met when they were both 16.

They married when they were 30 because they wanted to start a family together, she testified.

Sorella described De Vito as a good father, but about eight years into their marriage, she said he was often not home.

"He would come in maybe for supper, and if he didn't come in for supper, he would come in at least to try to help bathe the girls, then leave," she said.

In 2006, Sorella said their relationship became strained, and communication between the two began to break down. She said one day they had a heated argument over De Vito's insistence they install a high-tech security system, with multiple cameras. She wanted to know why, but she said he never gave a reason.

The relationship deteriorated further, Sorella said, with De Vito often arriving home in the middle of the night. De Vito, who ran motorcycle sales and car-rental businesses, told her he was preparing motorcycles and cars for trade shows.

"I had a hard time believing him, and I asked him if he had someone in his life," she told the jury. "He denied it."

In November 2006, Sorella said six to eight police officers came to the door of her Laval home early one morning, serving her with a warrant for the arrest of her husband. He was wanted in connection with organized crime and illegal drugs, she testified — part of the Projet Colisée sting operation.

Sorella told the officers they had the wrong person.

"At that time, I was pretty sure Joe was not part of the organized crime world," she said. "It was not the person I knew."

De Vito evaded police and was on the run for four years, but Sorella testified the two did see each other three times — once, the following month, when he spent Christmas in the Laurentians with them; another time, when he came to the home in a disguise, and two years later, in Toronto, when she tried to convince him to turn himself in.

She said her husband maintained he was innocent and remained on the run while trying to clear his name.

(De Vito was arrested in 2010 and convicted of conspiracy to import drugs and gangsterism. He was found dead in prison in July 2013 — a death the coroner blamed on cyanide poisoning.)

Successive suicide attempts

Faced with the stress of an absent husband, a difficult recovery and her mental illness, Sorella attempted suicide in December 2006 — the first of three attempts.  

"I felt like I was a burden," she told the jurors. "I felt like there was no reason for me to be around."

Sorella also testified about the hyperbaric chamber used to treat Sabrina's juvenile arthritis.

She said doctors told her and De Vito that Sabrina would have to take medication until she was 16.  

Sorella said they sought a natural alternative treatment. Sabrina had hyperbaric chamber treatments at a friend's home until the family got their own chamber.

Sorella said De Vito would often go in the chamber with both daughters, and they would come out "energetic" after the session.

Defence lawyer, teacher testify

Earlier in the day, a defence lawyer testified about his telephone conversation with Sorella on the night of her arrest.

Jean-Daniel Debkoski said he received a call in the middle of the night from a police investigator, saying a woman was being charged in connection with the deaths of her two children and needed a lawyer.

Debkoski worked for an on-call legal service at the time.

Debkoski said he tried to tell Sorella that she had been arrested for the murder of her daughters and not to make any statement to investigators. He said she interrupted him.

"She told me immediately 'my children are alive,'" said Debkoski. He said through the whole conversation, she insisted that her daughters were alive and asleep at home. Debkoski said he couldn't act as her lawyer because she did not accept that her children were dead.

Special needs educator Sonja Maksymiw-Duszara also testified. She taught both Amanda and Sabrina, helping them with their reading and comprehension.

She said Sorella always seemed receptive and willing to help with the girls' education.

Maksymiw-Duszara said Sorella appeared to be more "stressed and reserved" after her husband left because of the outstanding warrant for his arrest.

She described Amanda as reserved, and she broke down in tears as she remembered Sabrina, calling her a "firecracker" who liked to make friends, laugh and dance in the hallways at school.

Sorella's testimony continues for a second day Wednesday at the Laval courthouse.