A 33-year-old man is set to appear at the Montreal courthouse today as he faces a first-degree murder charge in connection with the murder of 45-year-old Leïla Ben Salem.
Montreal police (SPVM) arrested Yousef Moussaoui on Thursday afternoon in the Ville-Marie borough.
Officials have confirmed that the case is not considered intimate-partner violence. The motive of the murder is still unknown but will be made public once court proceedings begin.
Walid Hijazi a criminal defence attorney in Montreal explains that the evidence, motive and further details on the case is being protected to ensure the integrity of the case.
“Eventually we will know what happened in the course of the trial,” Hijazi. “This is a charge of first-degree murder. So, it will automatically be at the Superior Court in front of a jury.”
“Until then, meaning until a jury is selected and until trial, the system, meaning the police, the prosecution and the courts are going to want to protect the integrity of the evidence, not contaminate eventual jurors, not contaminate eventual witnesses at the trial. So despite our natural curiosity, we’re going to have to be patient before we get specific details on the story on what happened.”
Hijazi says that although the case has been dismissed as a domestic violence case, that doesn’t automatically indicate they weren’t known to each other.
“It’s not a domestic issue, but that does not mean that they were strangers,” said Hijazi. “That doesn’t give any additional insight on what happened, what is the nature of the relationship between the protagonists. What motivated him to act the way he did on that day, especially during a live work conference online, we have an obscure story for now.”
Although much of the details in the case are still unknown, Hijazi says if a charge of first-degree murder was laid, this means officials have already begun putting the pieces together on what happened during that zoom call.
“What constitutes murder in the first degree is a murder that is planned and deliberate, meaning the accused prepared, thought of it in advance before committing it in opposition to something that is purely impulsive,” explained Hijazi. “He’s accused of murder in the first degree. That means the Crown believes, that it was planned and deliberate and we will see in the course of the trial what is the evidence of that premeditation.”
Ben Salem was murdered on Sept. 22, SPVM were called at around 3:25 p.m., to her apartment building in downtown Montreal on René-Lévesque Boulevard, near Saint-Christophe Street, for a wellness check.
Officers found Ben Salem unresponsive upon arrival to her apartment, she was prouunced dead at the scene.
SPVM have confirmed Ben Salem’s murder is the 19th homicide on their territory this year.
Add CityNews Montreal as a trusted source on Google to see more local stories from us.
