The jury in the trial of the father accused of decimating his family was treated to a real foray Tuesday into the bloody and chaotic crime scene, where a woman and two children were found dead.
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Synthia Bussières and her two children, Zac and Éliam, aged 2 and 5, were killed in their condo in Brossard on the night of September 24 to 25, 2022.
Firefighters initially showed up there for a fire alarm, but instead discovered inert bodies.
The victims’ spouse and father, Mohamad Al Ballouz, was also there, alive. He now identifies as a woman, and introduces himself under the name Levana Ballouz. His trial recently opened at the Longueuil courthouse.
Illustration of the accused, who now identifies as a woman and wears a wig.
COURTESY ALEX S. GIRARD
The 14 jurors chosen to determine his fate had access Tuesday to numerous photos of the condo where the tragedy took place.
Among them, there were more sensitive photos, those of the place where Synthia Bussières was found dead.
Piles of burnt objects
The bathroom floor was indeed covered in blood and water.
Soaked and stained towels also littered the floor.
Room where the children were found lifeless.
COURTESY OF THE COURT
The victim’s body was no longer there when the photos were taken, since responders had escorted her outside in order to carry out resuscitation maneuvers, one of the first firefighters to arrive on the scene said on Monday.
According to the Crown’s theory, after violently killing her partner, the accused tried in vain to clean the crime scene, before ingesting windshield washer to take her own life.
Photos of the almost empty container were also shown to the jury.
A can of windshield washer fluid was found in the room after the bodies were discovered.
COURTESY OF THE COURT
In other images, we saw cleaning items, such as detergent and a mop stained with blood.
Everything was found in plastic bags, among various other partially burned objects.
A fire had in fact been started at the foot of the bed, in a pile of objects, including the couple’s personal items, as well as towels, sheets and pillows stained with blood. The home’s smoke detectors, which had all been removed, were also there.
The smoke detectors had been removed and then found in a pile of burned objects in the master bedroom.
COURTESY OF THE COURT
Children’s items
The children were found lying on the bed nearby. The two boys, wearing only a diaper with a picture of Spider-Man, could not be saved.
They bore no trace of violence. The Crown has not said how they were killed.
Synthia Bussières had 23 wounds on her body, made with a sharp and prickly weapon.
Two knives were also found, including one next to the bed, testified police officer Pierre Lessard, who spent many hours at the crime scene photographing different items.
Children’s items were also there, including a teddy bear, which was lying on the bed where the little ones were lying.
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