Quebec mother gets life sentence for murdering daughters, 8 and 9

MONTREAL — Adele Sorella was convicted in a Quebec court Monday of murdering her two daughters — Sabrina De Vito, 8, and Amanda De Vito, 9.

Sorella, 47, appeared stunned when the two guilty verdicts to charges of first-degree murder were read out.

It was revealed during the eight-week trial in Laval that Sorella had a brain tumour removed in 2001 after giving birth to Sabrina. The operation left parts of her face paralyzed, which made it difficult for an outsider to read her facial expressions throughout the trial.

Quebec Superior Court Justice Carol Cohen sentenced Sorella to an automatic life term with no eligibility for parole until she has served at least 25 years.

“I believe the jury was able to grasp the evidence we presented,” said Maria Albanese who prosecuted the case along with Louis Bouthillier.

The case represented an uphill battle for the prosecution. Sorella left behind no evidence she killed her daughters. The method she is believed to have used left no trace in the victims’ bodies.

Based on a theory presented by pathologist Caroline Tanguay, the prosecution contended the girls were killed peacefully by asphyxiation. Using process of elimination, Tanguay proposed the girls died in a hyperbaric chamber that Sorella sealed completely, causing the girls to breathe air that gradually lost oxygen. Sorella purchased the chamber in 2008 to treat Sabrina’s juvenile arthritis.

The jury didn’t have to be unanimous in agreement on how the girls were killed. But to convict they had to be convinced Sorella committed a criminal act to end their lives. They were presented with evidence that Sorella didn’t want her mother, Theresa Di Cesare, to be home when the girls died and that she tried to prevent her mother from discovering the bodies.

Laval police investigator, Det.-Sgt. Francois Guy Delisle, said Sorella revealed very little about herself when questioned in 2009.

She claimed her daughters were still alive.

The defence claimed Sorella was suffering from depression. In 2006, Sorella’s husband, Giuseppe De Vito, 46, was sought by the RCMP for his ties to the Mafia and was later convicted of conspiring to smuggle cocaine into Canada.