Crown seeks 14 years without parole eligibility for Laval mother who killed daughters

The Crown is asking the judge in the trial of Adele Sorella to put the Laval woman who killed her daughters in 2009 behind bars for at least 14 years.

Sorella, 53, was found guilty in February of second-degree murder in the deaths of her eight-year-old Sabrina De Vito and her nine-year-old sister Amanda De Vito, following a four-month trial. The minimum sentence on second-degree murder is life in prison with no eligibility for parole for 10 years.

It was the second trial on two counts of first-degree murder for the girls' deaths. Sorella's 2013 conviction was overturned on appeal.

"This crime undermines the fundamental values of our society," said Crown prosecutor Simon Lapierre in his sentencing arguments at the Laval courthouse Friday morning.

Lapierre argued that though the girls were found without signs of violence, the crime itself — causing the deaths of her children — is violent by its very nature.

"By committing this murder, [Sorella] committed a breach of trust of excessive gravity," Lapierre said.

Sorella's defence team is seeking the minimum sentence on second-degree murder: no parole eligibility for 10 years. Lawyer Pierre Poupart said there is no reason to extend that period because Sorella is fragile and is not at risk of reoffending.

Sorella had been free on bail since her first conviction was overturned in 2013, sitting next to two members of the Poupart defence team throughout her second trial.

She has been in custody since the jury delivered its verdict, and on Friday, she watched from behind the glass surrounding the prisoner's box for the first time since that trial began last November.

Poupart asked the court bailiffs to remove her handcuffs during the hearing.

"She has not even finished grieving the deaths of her daughters," he said. She has never admitted to committing the crime, he reminded the court.

"Do we need to add to what is already the ultimate catastrophe?" Poupart asked. 

"We are in the midst of a tragedy of which even the greatest authors, the greatest playwrights of Ancient Greece would have envied. It just doesn't make sense."

No cause of death ever found

The girls' bodies were found by their uncles on the floor of their playroom in the family's Laval home on March 31, 2009.

Though no official cause of death was ever established, the pathologist who conducted their autopsies testified that she believed the sisters had been asphyxiated in a hyperbaric chamber police found at the home.

During the trial, Sorella's defence lawyers argued that whether she was responsible for their deaths or not, she was in a state of pathological dissociation at the time and had suffered a major depression for years prior to the girls' deaths.

During the trial, the court heard that Sorella had made three suicide attempts after her husband, Giuseppe De Vito, went into hiding from police in 2006.

De Vito was on the run from authorities at the time of his daughters' deaths. He was caught and convicted in 2010 on charges of conspiracy to import drugs and gangsterism. He died of cyanide poisoning in prison in 2013.

Superior Court Justice Sophie Bourque must also take into account the victims' vulnerability, the Crown argued.

"Even if no one has come to witness on their behalf, it is obvious that this crime has had disastrous consequences," Lapierre said.

It's clear the girls' deaths devastated Sorella's family, including her two brothers and mother, who testified at the trial, he said.

None of them have submitted victim impact statements to the court, but Sorella's older brother Luigi was present at the sentencing hearing.

One of the girls' school teachers was also in attendance.

Lapierre also cited the girls' father's testimony from the first trial, in which Giuseppe De Vito said he blamed himself for not having done more to prevent his daughters' deaths.

Sorella may not have been convicted of first-degree murder, Lapierre also said, but there were elements of premeditation submitted as evidence during the trial.

He cited testimony from an employee of the family who revealed Sorella may have told her daughters they wouldn't have to go to school that morning because of a doctor's appointment.

Poupart countered that the statement was only hearsay evidence and had not been confirmed by Sorella's mother, Teresa Di Cesare.

The sentencing hearing continues Friday afternoon, with further submissions from Sorella's defence.