'After so long it's done': Cindy Ali acquitted of daughter's murder in retrial

Cindy Ali, a Toronto woman who was previously found guilty in the death of her daughter, has been acquitted in a retrial.

Cheers and applause rang out in a packed Toronto courtroom Friday as Justice Jane Kelly handed down that decision.

Speaking to reporters outside the courthouse, Ali said she was feeling a sense of relief now that her ordeal is done — but also that she hasn't yet had an opportunity to properly grieve for her daughter.

"After today, it's going to be our time as a family to start healing and grieving — but not forgetting Cynara, because she's still here with me. She will always be with me, with us," she said.

"After so long it's done, and I'm really happy for that."

Ali was originally found guilty of first-degree murder in a jury trial back in 2016. She had pleaded not guilty in the February 2011 death of her 16-year-old daughter Cynara, who had cerebral palsy and was unable to walk, talk or feed herself.

Ali successfully appealed that conviction in 2021, and was granted a new trial, which started last October.

In her decision, Kelly wrote that her conclusion hinged on reasonable doubt, and said the Crown had not proven that Ali caused her daughter's death.

"After careful consideration of all the evidence, I am left in a state of uncertainty, such that I am not sure where the truth of the matter lies," the judge wrote. "I am unable to resolve the conflicting evidence, and accordingly, I am left in a state of reasonable doubt as to Mrs. Ali's guilt."

Defence cited home invasion

Kelly also said that the positions from the Crown and the defence were "equally consistent with the evidence." Ali's account was intruders entered her home looking for a package, after which Cynara was found without vital signs, while the Crown's theory was that Ali had staged her home to make it look like a home invasion to cover up her role in her daughter's death.

During the initial trial, Ali testified she was home alone with Cynara one morning when two masked men in black suits rang her doorbell and pushed their way into her home demanding a mysterious package, which they never found.

Ali said one of the men had a gun and made her take him through various rooms in the house in search of the package while Cynara lay on the living room couch with the other man nearby.

At one point when she broke away from the man with the gun and ran to the living room, Ali testified she saw the second man with a pillow in his hand, standing by Cynara, who wasn't moving and was "very quiet" and pale.

Ali said the two men then left after announcing they had the wrong residence and she called 911 after shaking her daughter and finding her unresponsive.

Cynara was pulled off life support in a Toronto hospital in February 2011, two days after emergency personnel, responding to the 911 call, found her without vital signs.

Crown pushed coverup theory

The Crown, meanwhile, offered theories for both first and second-degree murder linked to Cynara's death, as well as manslaughter. 

"Crown counsel's position is that it is Mrs. Ali's love that caused her to end Cynara's life. Her death would prevent Cynara from living a life riddled with with seizures, sickness, difficulties eating, difficulties swallowing and suffering. In effect, Crown counsel submits that this was a mercy killing," Kelly wrote in her decision, referring to the Crown's first-degree murder theory.

The Crown also submitted theories in which Ali "snapped" and killed her daughter due to frustration or exhaustion in caring for her after so many years, which would amount to second-degree murder, and also for negligence if Cynara was in medical distress, which would be manslaughter.

James Lockyer, one of Ali's lawyers, called the judge's decision "justice" when speaking to reporters outside the courthouse.

"The fact that it took 13 years is very unfortunate. The fact that she was charged in the first place is very unfortunate in my view," he said. 

"But justice delayed is not always justice denied. This was justice delayed, but justice finally got there at the end."