Man faces murder charge in death of newborn
In rare case, man also held for attempting to kill pregnant wife
In what Crown prosecutors described as a rare case, the man arrested after allegedly stabbing his eight-months-pregnant wife in the early hours of Monday morning has been charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder.
Looking gaunt and saying little, Sofiane Ghazi, 37, was arraigned at the Montreal courthouse via videoconference on Tuesday.
His wife, Raja Ghazi, survived the stabbing and is said to be in stable condition. The child was delivered by emergency C-section in a hospital but died within a few hours. Ghazi is charged with firstdegree murder of the child and the attempted murder of his wife.
Though she didn’t want to comment on the specifics of the case, Crown prosecutor Anne Aubé said that for Ghazi to be charged with murder, the child must have been alive for at least a brief moment between being born and dying from its injuries.
Per Canada’s Criminal Code, a child is considered a human being when it has “completely proceeded, in a living state, from the body of its mother” whether or not it has breathed, has an independent circulation or had its umbilical cord severed.
“A person commits homicide when he causes injury to a child before or during its birth as a result of which the child dies after becoming a human being,” the Criminal Code says.
According to Montreal police, Raja Ghazi, 33, called 911 Sunday night to report a case of conjugal violence, but her husband was gone by the time police arrived at her Montreal North apartment.
Police urged her to go somewhere else for the night. She agreed to send her two children to stay with relatives, but insisted she wanted to stay home.
Around 2:30 a.m., police allege, Sofiane Ghazi returned to the apartment and attacked his wife before fleeing.
Soon after, Raja Ghazi was knocking on a neighbour’s door, her stomach covered in blood. The neighbour told the Montreal Gazette she had often heard the couple arguing. Sofiane Ghazi later turned himself in, police say.
Ghazi was also charged Tuesday with breaking bail conditions, uttering death threats toward his wife, stealing a car and robbery — police say Ghazi tried to rob a dépanneur in Rosemont after fleeing the apartment.
The new charges come less than a month after Ghazi was granted bail while facing assault charges in two other cases, including one in which he’s alleged to have assaulted his wife.
He was released on June 28 after agreeing to keep the peace, to not go to Raja Ghazi’s apartment without her consent and to not communicate with her. Ghazi had also been ordered to attend therapy sessions at a Montreal rehab centre to help with his addictions.
To ensure his release, Raja Ghazi had offered the courts a $500 commitment on behalf of her husband if ever he were to break the conditions. Ghazi’s case returns to court in late August.
He has been ordered to not communicate with his wife or their two children while detained.