Father guilty of triple murder: “Put your life and that of your children safe”

The mother of Synthia Bussières launches a real cry from the heart to women victims of domestic violence.

• Also read: Trial for triple murder in Brossard: a father guilty of the murders of his two children and his partner

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

“Get out of there. You go away, you don’t speak. Keep your life and that of your children safe,” she said.

Sylvie Guertin wanted to send this message a few moments after the announcement of the guilty verdict of her former son-in-law.

His daughter and two grandchildren, Zac and Eliam, were killed in September 2022. The father, Mohamad Al Ballouz, was at the time accused of this triple murder. The defendant now represents herself as a woman and was found guilty on the third day of jury deliberations.

M^me Guertin welcomes this verdict with relief. “We will be able to breathe better, stop worrying, asking ourselves: ‘What will happen to us tomorrow?’” she said, in reference to the many reversals during legal proceedings.

The accused represented herself alone. And this gave rise to a real “circus”, she lamented.

Called to the stand

For example, for her defense, the accused intended to have Ms.^me Guertin as well as the sister and best friends of Synthia Bussières.

“It was still beyond comprehension, it was still a way of trying to control us. I could not imagine that he could ask to question us,” lamented Mr.^me Guertin.

And during her pleadings, the accused concluded by saying that she was “a woman, a mother”. Words which upset the mother and grandmother of the victims, who also saw it as manipulation on her part.

“I can’t believe he dared to say that. “He really doesn’t know what it’s like to be a mother,” she said, adding that she didn’t accept her change of identity.

Moreover, she says she blames herself for not having detected before that her daughter could be experiencing distress.

“We have never seen physical violence. But psychological, yes. The few times he came to my house, he was very aggressive. So what happened when he was alone with her? We have a good idea now,” said M.^me Guertin.

“Not a happy girl”

Moreover, during the trial, images captured hours before the tragedy were revealed. We see the Al Ballouz-Bussières family, just before taking the elevator to their condo.

Synthia Bussières seems “sad,” her mother said.

“My daughter, in recent times, she is no longer the girl I knew,” she added. When we see her in the elevator, she’s not a happy girl, she seemed scared.”

M^me Guertin also said she was reassured to know that the accused will be sentenced to life in prison.