The second hand on the time bomb was ticking steadily forward: Tick. Tick. Tick.

Tragedy would be the final stop, the end of the line.

And the alleged victim? A deeply troubled 12-year-old Indigenous boy who possessed a tractor-trailer load of demons and an explosive temperament.

In a Milton courtroom, Becky Hamber and Brandy Cooney are on trial for first-degree murder in the boy’s December 2022 death at the couple’s Burlington home. Cops say the boy was allegedly soaking wet and wearing a wetsuit when first responders arrived.

Hamber and Cooney were in the process of adopting the unnamed victim and his younger brother.

On the trial’s second day, Hamber’s lawyer, Monte MacGregor, detailed the victim’s escalating violence as he questioned the boy’s longtime foster mother, Heather Walsh

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