End of the trial for a triple murder in Brossard: the jury is sequestered, here’s what it doesn’t know

The trial of the father accused of decimating his family in 2022 in Brossard is drawing to a close. The fate of Mohamad Al Ballouz, accused of the premeditated murders of his two boys, Zac and Eliam, aged 2 and 5, as well as the unpremeditated murder of his wife, Synthia Bussières, is now in the hands of the jury. Throughout the trial, the defendant, who now identifies as a woman, represented herself alone. While waiting for the verdict, here’s what the jury didn’t know when it began its deliberations.

Bereaved relatives summoned by the defense

The mother of Synthia Bussières. His sister. The latter’s spouse. Her best friend.

These people were all on the list of witnesses that the accused intended to call… Even more, she even hoped to question them herself.

The accused also wanted to prevent them from attending the trial since witnesses are generally excluded from the court room, which Judge Eric Downs refused.

“Many have experienced trauma. There is a mother who lost a daughter, a woman who lost a sister, another who lost her best friend,” he commented.

The latter finally allowed these relatives to be called to the witness stand, but refused to allow the accused to question them.

The children’s mother blamed

In her defense, the accused intended to tarnish the image of the mother of her children, according to what leaked from her theory of the case. Not only did her questions suggest that the woman could have killed the kids, but she intended to discuss the state of their relationship. This includes their arguments, alcohol abuse, domestic violence and financial aspects of the couple.

The accused hoped to demonstrate “good character” in order to paint the portrait of the loving father he was to his children. “It is not because Synthia Bussière is dead that that makes her an innocent woman,” claims the accused.

From 27 witnesses to 0 for the defense

“It is quite unusual and unusual for such a high number of witnesses to be requested [en défense]», Launched Judge Eric Downs, during a pre-trial hearing this fall.

But according to the accused, 27 witnesses were necessary to ensure her defense. This would have considerably lengthened the duration of the trial.

Throughout the discussions in the absence of the jury, the accused finally reduced her number of witnesses, first to 24, then to 16. But now, after several days of work in the courtroom to supervise and prepare These testimonies, the accused turned around and announced that she was not presenting a defense. A drastic change in its strategy which raised eyebrows at the Court. The jury was ultimately told that no witnesses would be heard, never knowing that this was a major turnaround.

Disturbing interventions

The fact that the accused represented herself alone brought its share of disturbing interventions throughout the legal proceedings.

• She wanted to show in the middle of the courtroom a video of the bloodied body of the victim who was taken out of the broken elevator by the firefighters. The judge flatly refused.

• During the trial, the accused requested that the murder charges be dismissed, in vain. The judge concluded that the accused must have “carried out a plan” to kill the children after the death of their mother.
• The accused asked first responders if they had witnessed the murders, leading to objections from the Crown due to the illegality of the question.
• The accused suggested that firefighters, who believed they were responding to an alarm triggered by burnt toast, exaggerated when they recounted the horror experienced when they saw the dead victims.

Address the media

The accused has repeatedly asked to be able to speak to the media covering her trial. She even prepared a document, which is five pages long, in which she shares her version of the facts, we learned in the courtroom. The judge refused to allow this, in order to preserve the fairness of the trial. The accused returned to the charge last week, which seemed to annoy the judge. The latter replied that it was more urgent to compensate for the delay accumulated because of the accused.

“I will manage the directives, and not the press conferences that you would like to give,” he said.