Article content

Adele Sorella has been found guilty of second-degree murder in the deaths of her two daughters.

The jury had been deliberating since Wednesday, tasked with reaching a verdict on the five options Superior Court Justice Sophie Bourque gave them in her final instructions earlier that day.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Adele Sorella guilty of second-degree murder in deaths of daughters Back to video

Sorella, 52, had been charged with the first-degree murders of her daughters, but Bourque had also given the jury the options of finding her guilty of second-degree murder or manslaughter or of finding her not guilty or not criminally responsible by reason of a mental disorder.

A second-degree murder conviction carries an automatic life sentence, with the possibility of parole after at least 10 years. However, Crown prosecutor Nektarios Tzortzinas said shortly after the verdict that his team will consider their options.

Sorella’s daughters — Amanda, 9, and Sabrina, 8 — died on March 31, 2009, inside the family’s home in Laval. Their bodies were discovered by Sorella’s mother and her two brothers. There were no signs of violence on the bodies and the police initially believed they had been poisoned. When that was ruled out, the focus of the investigation turned toward a hyperbaric chamber that had been purchased to treat Sabrina’s juvenile rheumatoid arthritis.