One Lam sister said she confessed to her mother’s murder to clear her conscience and guilt before she goes to jail, a jury heard in an Ottawa courtroom on Tuesday.
Sisters Chau
Kanh
Lam and Hue Ai Lam are
facing first-degree murder charges
in the death of their mother, Kieu Lam, on Oct. 31, 2022.
Crown attorneys showed video of Hue’s interview with Guy Séguin, a detective with the Ottawa Police Service, to the jury on Tuesday.
In the video, recorded hours after the Lam sisters had been arrested, Hue confessed to
killing her mother using a hammer
. She told the detective through a Vietnamese interpreter that she struck Kieu first, then gave the hammer to Chau.
Both sisters then used a window-curtain string to strangle their mother.
Hue also told Seguin that she and her sister — then both in their late 50s — started planning to kill their 88-year-old mother a few days before the incident because they could no longer bottle in the pain from Kieu’s verbal and physical abuse.
Her mother always had a hot temper, Hue said, which the sisters tolerated at first despite their frustration and anger. Hue and Chau would also drive their mother to a nearby shopping centre so the elderly woman could walk around and eat some food, which helped some.
However, that changed after Kieu fell and broke some bones. Hue told Séguin her mother never left the house again and had a worse temper after that.
At the same time, Hue lost her job after being diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease. She said her mother would accuse her of bringing shame to the family because “everyone else is able to work.” Hue also said her mother would yell obscenities at her for not being a married woman.
“Since I was little, my mother was controlling … Everything must go her way, the way she wants it,” Hue said in Vietnamese. “Before, I could stand it because I was working.”
Chau was also subjected to abuse
, Hue added. Their mother would yell at them for the littlest things, like if they accidentally bumped into her chair at the breakfast table.
At one point, Hue told the detective, the sisters would hide in the bathroom together to try and escape Kieu’s abuse, but their mother would open the door and beat them further.
She also told Séguin there wasn’t one specific incident that led to plan to kill their mother. She said her mother was yelling at them and beating them all week, which hurt their dignity.
Everything accumulated to the point where all they felt was rage, Hue said. However, she felt like she couldn’t talk to anyone else about it because she felt ashamed and she was afraid of bringing shame to her family if she did so.
“Everything was collecting to the point where it broke the dam,” Hue said in Vietnamese.
Towards the end of the video, Séguin asked Hue why she decided to confess.
“Because if I am sent to jail … If I don’t tell you the truth, my conscience will be bothered,” Hue replied.
Hue also expressed concerns towards Chau, whose was also experiencing health problems.
Hue also expressed concerns about the house and the bills that would go unpaid while they were in jail, saying the city would cut off the hydro and heat if she didn’t pay.
However, Hue also said she and Chau would have nowhere else to go if they were released on bail.
The trial was scheduled to reconvene on Thursday at 10 a.m. to give lawyers time to deliberate two reports submitted by the defence.
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