Loud sobs and wailing erupted from a Toronto court’s public gallery on Sunday morning as a judge told Cindy Ali she'll face the mandatory sentence — life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years — for the murder of her handicapped 16-year-old daughter Cynara.

Backed by family, friends and fellow parishioners filling the courtroom, Ali stood facing Justice Todd Ducharme as the jury returned a guilty verdict on one count of first-degree murder after one day of deliberation. After the sentence was addressed, the accused raised a tissue to her eyes as her supporters’ knees buckled and cries of “Oh Jesus, why?” rang out.

“We love you,” family friend Anne Woolger called out as Ali was arrested. Ali’s three remaining daughters sobbed and clung together, exiting the room as a unit.

“They got it wrong, trust me,” said Ali’s husband, Allan Ali, of the verdict outside the courtroom.

He said the family plans to appeal.

First responders found Cynara, who had cerebral palsy and could not walk or speak, lying without vital signs on a sofa on Feb. 19, 2011, after her mother called 911 claiming there had been a home invasion and that the teenager was not breathing.

The Crown argued Ali wove an elaborate web of lies about a home invasion and two masked men searching for a mysterious package in order to cover up that she used a pillow to suffocate Cynara.

The case hinged on whether the jury accepted Ali’s home invasion story, said defence lawyer Christopher Hicks outside the courthouse.

“I think that was a critical piece of evidence, and they had to believe what she said about that,” he said.

In closing submissions, Crown prosecutor Rosemarie Juginovic pointed to several pieces of evidence to argue the break-in was staged, including a firefighter’s testimony about seeing no footprints in the snow outside the Scarborough townhouse and Cindy Ali’s unprompted explanation to police for why some drawers and rooms were untouched.

“It defies belief (that one of the robbers) would kill a defenceless and immobilized human being like Cynara who could not identify who they are and what they did, when they left someone alive who could,” Juginovic told the jury.

“The defence response, in part, is are you kidding me?” Hicks told the jury in his closing submissions, where he said the jury should believe Ali’s testimony about the home invasion and that there was a clear lack of evidence to suggest Ali killed her daughter.

Ali said the home invaders left saying they had the wrong house, and both she and her husband testified that there had been mix-ups before with mail and pizza going to another house in the neighbourhood, Hicks said.

Hicks also argued that no medical evidence was found during the autopsy to suggest Cynara was suffocated with a pillow, and that the cardiac arrest that resulted in her death could have been due to her epilepsy disorder, a lung infection or by a seizure triggered by fear of the robbers. These possibilities ought to raise reasonable doubt, he told the jury.

Juginovic told the jury that the pathologists also testified they could not rule out smothering and urged them to look at other evidence such as Cynara’s blood and saliva being found on the pillow where Cynara’s mouth would be expected to be if she were suffocated.

Hicks told the jury there was no reason for Ali to kill Cynara because the family of six was in a “sweet spot” having just obtained permanent residency. He stressed that the family, and Ali in particular as Cynara’s primary caregiver, viewed Cynara as a blessing not a burden and devoutly followed their church’s belief that life can only be given and taken by God.

“They love Cynara, that was their whole — and that was part of our point as well,” Hicks said after the verdict was delivered. “Cindy Ali was a terrific mother, a devoted mother, and wouldn’t have harmed her daughter. And that sentiment was shared by other members of the family.”

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The Crown suggested Ali had stopped loving Cynara, which made providing care for her and making the sacrifices involved intolerable. During the trial, however, Ali denied smothering Cynara, seeing anyone smother her with a pillow or telling anyone she saw Cynara smothered with a pillow.

“It’s not easy taking care of a baby like Cynara,” said Ali. “But it was a big joy for me as a mother. I have no complaints. I loved taking care of Cynara.”