Trial begins for men accused of murdering Montreal teen Meriem Boundaoui in 2021
Posted January 13, 2026 10:03 am.
Last Updated January 13, 2026 5:48 pm.
The jury trial has begun for two men facing first-degree murder charges in the fatal drive-by shooting of teenager Meriem Boundaoui in Montreal nearly five years ago.
Crown prosecutors say Boundaoui, 15, was an innocent bystander in what they have described as the culmination of a dispute between two businesses in Saint-Leonard.
On Feb. 7, 2021, Boundaoui was with another person inside a stopped car when a second car drove up and a suspect or suspects opened fire. The Montreal teen and a 21-year-old man who was on the sidewalk were hit by bullets. Boundaoui would not recover from her injuries.
Aymane Bouadi and Salim Touaibi, who were both in their mid-20s at the time of the shooting, were arrested — just days apart more than a year after the shooting — and charged with first-degree murder.
Tuesday was the first court appearance for both accused in the case.
Prosecutor Katerine Brabant told jurors the shooting was linked to an argument over parking spots between a family that owned a barber shop and another that owned a grocery store. Brabant says Boundaoui had no ties to any party of the conflict.
Criminal defence lawyer Walid Hijazi, who is not involved in the trial and speaking to CityNews as a legal expert, says the Crown seeking a conviction for first-degree murder shows prosecutors are confident they can convince jurors of that.
“Murder in the first degree is you have to prove that you willfully caused the death of another human being,” Hijazi explained.
“The level of planning doesn’t have to be very sophisticated and the time of preparation doesn’t have to be very long, it could be in a few minutes that precede the murder, but the Crown has to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that element of premeditation.”
Hijazi says trials for murder in the first degree are always in front of a jury at the Superior Court, with the judge being responsible for the legal application of the law and explaining the elements of the offence.
“Members of society, people who are not trained in legal matters have to appreciate the facts and see what they believe, what they don’t believe, and at the end, are they convinced beyond a reasonable doubt?”
–With files from The Canadian Press
