Woman accused of killing her newborn sons terrified of being disowned: lawyer

VANCOUVER – The lawyer for a Vancouver woman accused of killing her newborn babies told a jury the woman was so terrified during the home births she wasn’t thinking of ending their lives, but how to hide the births from her family.

The defence is wrapping up closing arguments in B.C. Supreme Court at the trial of Sarah Leung, who is charged with two counts of second-degree murder in theseparate deaths of her sons.

Crown lawyers allege the 28-year-old delivered the babies a year apart in April 2009 and March 2010, both into the toilet of her family home, and then killed them by disposing of them in plastic bags.

Her lawyer, Richard Fowler, says Leung eventually confessed as many details she could remember to police detectives, explaining she got rid of her infants because of a fear of being disowned.

Paramedics uncovered the first child after Leung’s father discovered the body in a bag outside the family home and called police.

The second infant was never found and believed to have been disposed at the city dump.