There was no mistaking the urgency and panic in Barbara Cabala’s voice.
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“I need your help. I’m really in trouble,” she said to the first 911 operator with whom she connected on July 7, 2021. “My mom attacked me and I tried to defend myself and I don’t think she’s breathing right now.”
Cabala was transferred to another operator. “I’m not sure what happened to my mother. She attacked me. She was going insane and I tried to defend myself … I don’t think she’s OK,” she said, her voice breaking and adding “we’re both covered in blood.
“We had the police here a few days ago because we were having problems. And today, she attacked me again and I tried to defend myself and I’m really scared.”
The dispatcher calmly asked Cabala to start CPR. Cabala cried and said she couldn’t. For the next few minutes, the dispatcher tried to talk to Cabala. The call remained connected, but there was mostly silence for the next six minutes.
When the first police officer, London police Const. Tom Policelli, arrived a few minutes later, he found Cabala, 43, was on floor at the front door of the Wilkins Street condo-townhouse, in the “recovery position,” lying on her side with her knees bent toward her chest. She was staring ahead and making no eye contact.
Her cellphone in her right hand was still connected to 911. She motioned to the back of the townhouse and said to Policelli, “Help my mom.”
He found Cabala’s mother, Elzbieta, 59, on the floor near the rear patio door, her eyes open but she wasn’t breathing and had no pulse. He started CPR, but resuscitation efforts would be futile.
Cabala has pleaded not guilty to manslaughter in the death of her mother on that summer evening more than three years ago. A Superior Court jury was picked on Monday and evidence began Thursday.
In his opening address to the jury, assistant Crown attorney James Spangenberg said, “This is not a case of whodunit…. It’s about what actually happened.”
The jurors are expected to hear Cabala’s mother died of “external pressure to the neck,” Spangenberg said. What’s coming during the next two weeks from the Crown are largely police witnesses, and much of the evidence presented will be in photos and videos, particularly a lengthy police statement made by Cabala after her arrest.
“The only surviving eyewitness as to what happened in the house is Barbara Cabala,” Spangenberg said.
Cabala’s lawyer, Geoff Snow, made a significant admission before any evidence was called to further make that point. “There was an altercation between Elzbieta Cabala and Barbara Cabala … and they were the only two people in the home at the time. At the end of this altercation, Elzbieta Cabala died.”
The first witness was Policelli. He described finding Barbara Cabala on the floor at the front door, engaging with her for a second before stepping over her to help Cabala’s mother.
Elzbieta Cabala was at the back of the unit near the sliding patio door, on the floor and lying on her right side. There was no obvious signs of injury but there was blood in and around her mouth and in her hair. Her eyes were open and she wasn’t breathing.
Policelli said he saw a cellphone on the floor and blood on the wall near the patio door. A broken flower pot and dirt were on the floor.
Once he checked her pulse, Policelli began CPR until firefighters and paramedics arrived moments later. He helped move her to allow emergency responders to continue resuscitation efforts. She was pronounced dead by paramedics 15 minutes after Policelli first arrived.
Two other police officers arrived within moments of Policelli. Const. Ryan Richardson-Guest cleared the home while Const. Gray Stinson stayed with Barbara Cabala who was still on the floor at the front door.
Stinson described seeing “smeared, dried blood” on Barbara Cabala’s hands, forearms, chest and neck. The only injury he saw on Cabala was a fresh three-centimetre cut to her right palm, but it was not bleeding profusely.
“She told me her name was Barb,” he said. He didn’t know the source of the blood and asked her if she was injured. “I got no response to that question.”
Cabala sat up and Stinson said he saw the cellphone still connected to the 911 dispatch. He said he could see Policelli in the back of the unit performing CPR.
Stinson said he arrested Cabala for aggravated assault. “I was defending myself,” Cabala told him.
He and Richardson-Guest handcuffed her and took her to Stinson’s cruiser. A female officer conducted a search of Cabala and she was put in the back of Stinson’s cruiser. When asked if she wanted to call a lawyer, her reply was “I don’t know yet.”
She was taken to an ambulance, where Stinson said he was advised by a supervisor that Cabala’s mother was dead. He rearrested her for homicide.
“Does that mean my mom is dead?” Barbara Cabala asked. After she was read her rights, she indicated, “I don’t know what is going on, I need a lawyer, yeah,” but indicated she didn’t need to speak to a lawyer at that time.
Cabala was taken to Victoria Hospital in the ambulance and Stinson said he rode with her. At the hospital, Stinson said he was concerned Cabala was unable to understand the police cautions because of the chaos at the crime scene and he re-read her rights.
Cabala said she understood, but when asked if she wanted to speak to a lawyer, she replied, “I’m not physically able to. I will speak to a lawyer when I feel better.”
Stinson said Cabala told doctors she had a cut on her hand and a head injury, with soreness on the left side of her head and general back pain. She underwent a battery of tests and was later cleared to be taken to London police headquarters.
When she was walked to the police cruiser for transport, Cabala said she was dizzy and remarked “she hit me in the head with a pot.”
And she said she was “very dizzy” while being formally booked into police cells. Stinson said.
The trial continues on Friday.