A Laval woman on trial for the murder of her two daughters said Wednesday that she did not remember much about that day.

Earlier in the week Adele Sorella, who is accused of the first-degree murders of her daughters Sabrina and Amanda, explained how she was left with partial deafness and facial paralysis following surgery to remove a brain tumour.

She also explained how she endured mental illness, including suicidal thoughts, and often wondered if she was a good mother.

Sorella said her mental health deteriorated after her husband, Mafia-linked Giuseppe De Vito, became a fugitive.

Sorella told the court that until then, she never believed her husband was involved with organized crime.

In court on Wednesday, Sorella testified that she was frequently in a mental state where she believed her children would be better off without her and tried to take her own life three times between 2006 and 2008.

Sorella said she does not remember much about March 31, 2009, the day the bodies of her daughters were discovered.

"For me, that day is a blank," Sorella told the jury. "It's something that I tried so many times to rebuild, to get answers... I want to know what happened to my girls."

She testified that she remembered being with her children in the morning and saying goodbye to them and her mother and that she went on a drive but did not remember stopping for gas or eating.

She woke up with her car in a ditch, surrounded by many people, and said she was confused as to why her car would not start.

 

Jury posed two questions

While Sorella's lawyer was the primary person asking questions as she testified in her defence, the jury did have several questions for her.

They sent notes to the judge who asked two questions on their behalf.

The first question was about Sorella's state of mind: when Sorella was having suicidal thoughts, did she ever feel like harming her children. Sorella said she did not.

"I never felt the need to hurt anyone else," Sorella, 52, said through tears. "I felt I was a burden -- not good enough to be the mother of my beautiful children."

She said she sought help at the hospital but didn't get it. She is currently being followed by a psychiatrist and takes medications three times a day, which have stabilized her. Without them, Sorella said, she'd be in a psychiatric ward.

The jury then asked her to describe her daily routine, and Sorella explained how she woke up, prepared breakfast for her children, then spent the day working on her real estate business.

While the cause of the girls' deaths is unknown, the possible role of a hyperbaric chamber in the family home has been examined. Sorella testified Tuesday that without telling her, De Vito bought two of the chambers to treat Sabrina's juvenile arthritis. She said she didn't know how to operate the machines because her husband handled them.

The trial continues all week.

- With a report from Stephanie Marin of The Canadian Press