Lam sisters confessed to killing mom, murder trial jury hears

The Ottawa Police Service homicide unit was investigating the death of an elderly woman found at 1230 Bowmount St. on Monday, Oct. 31, 2022. Photo by Tony Caldwell /PostmediaArticle content

Two Ottawa sisters confessed to killing their elderly mom in her sleep while being investigated by police, jurors were told Tuesday afternoon as a murder trial got underway at the Ontario Superior Court of Justice.

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Chau Kanh Lam and Hue Ai Lam are charged with first-degree murder in relation to the death of their mother, Kieu Lam, on Oct. 31, 2022.

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In their opening address, Crown prosecutors outlined the case, telling the jury both sisters gave detailed statements to the police that they killed their mother. The Crown alleged that they struck Kieu in the head with a hammer, rendering her unconscious, before strangling her to death.

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The Crown said the two sisters attacked their mother when she was “sleeping and lifeless,” unable to defend herself or to call for help.

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“She gave them life, and they took her life,” prosecutors said.

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The Crown said Chau then called 911, telling the dispatcher through a Vietnamese interpreter that she and Hue had killed their mother. At one point, Chau even spelled out the word “kill,” they alleged.

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The Crown then accused the sisters of planning to kill their mother in the days leading up to the attack because they were mad and angry at her for how they said she treated them.

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Both Chau and Hue pleaded not guilty to the charges on Monday morning. The trial is scheduled to last five weeks.

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Crown calls first witness

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After the opening statement, the Crown called its first witness, Marlo Carlo Villalobos, who was then an ambulance communications officer for the Ottawa Paramedic Service.

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Villalobos said he primarily took 911 calls and gathered as much information as possible before sending an ambulance to each location when he worked in Ottawa between January 2021 to March 2024. He now lives in Montreal.

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Jurors then heard an audio recording of the 911 call between Villalobos and Chau. They were also provided a transcript of that call, including a certified translation of the Vietnamese portions.

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Throughout the call, Villalobos tried to extract information from Chau, but had difficulty understanding her due to the language barrier. He then called the Ottawa Police Service and told the police dispatcher that “somebody killed their mom.”

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He then requested a Vietnamese interpreter through LanguageLine Solutions, a service used by the Ottawa Paramedic Service to obtain translation over the phone.

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Chau then told Villalobos through the interpreter that she and her sister had killed Kieu. She also told Villalobos through the interpreter that she had been angry at her mother.