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A London woman charged with killing her mother has been found guilty by a jury of manslaughter.
Barbara Cabala, 43, stood beside her defence team and showed little emotion when the jury foreperson announced the verdict on Friday afternoon.
The jury began their deliberations late Thursday afternoon following Superior Court Justice Patricia Moore’s final instructions.
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They were sequestered overnight and returned to continue discussions on Friday. In total, the deliberations lasted about seven hours.
During the three-week trial, the jury learned that Cabala strangled her mother, Elzbieta, 59, on July 7, 2021, at her mother’s Wilkins Street townhouse.
The mother and daughter started arguing when Cabala was getting ready to head out to a local sports bar to watch the NHL finals. The verbal confrontation became physical.
Police and emergency personnel raced to the address after Cabala called 911, telling the dispatcher she and her mother had an argument, her mother attacked her and that her mother wasn’t breathing.
They found Cabala lying in the floor by the front door and her mother at the back of the home on the floor bloodied and without vital signs.
An autopsy showed she had died of external compression to the neck. Her larynx was broken and there was extensive bruising, cuts and abrasions.
Cabala told police and testified that her mother was the aggressor and she was acting in self-defence.
But assistant Crown attorney James Spangenberg argued that Cabala’s version didn’t make sense, particularly when comparing her mother’s extensive injuries to Cabala’s lack of serious injury.
Following the jury’s verdict, defence lawyer Geoff Snow asked that a pre-sentence report be prepared. Cabala remains out of custody on bail. Her sentencing date is set for June 26.
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