Montreal Gazette

Man feared jury was going to ‘crucify’ him

He admits to stabbing pregnant wife, but claims he was misled by legal team

- PAUL CHERRY pcherry@postemdia.com

Sofiane Ghazi, who put an abrupt end to his first-degree murder trial in September by pleading guilty to a lesser charge, thought the jury selected to hear his case was going to “crucify” him.

Ghazi, 39, was charged with killing his unborn child in 2017 when he stabbed his wife 19 times with a meat fork. She survived, but the baby died after he was delivered immediatel­y after the stabbing by emergency C-section. An autopsy revealed the unborn child was stabbed nine times.

Ghazi pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in the baby’s death and aggravated assault in the stabbing of his wife. He has yet to be sentenced.

However, he is now trying to retract his second-degree murder guilty plea, arguing he was not properly informed by his two former lawyers, François Taddeo and Moulay-badre Aber.

Ghazi is arguing he believed he was pleading guilty to manslaught­er, and that the Crown and his lawyers would make a common submission of a prison term of 15 years. Both lawyers have testified they fully informed Ghazi of the consequenc­es of his guilty plea.

By pleading guilty to second-degree murder, Ghazi faces an automatic life sentence. The Crown and the defence were to make a joint recommenda­tion that he serve at least 15 years before becoming eligible for parole.

Ghazi says that’s the basis for the confusion: He was willing to be sentenced to 15 years for manslaught­er but never agreed to plead guilty to a charge that would result in a life sentence.

On Thursday, Ghazi told Superior Court Justice Jean-françois Buffoni that he became emotional as evidence was presented on the first day of his trial, in particular a police video of the apartment where he and his family lived.

During a break that day, he told Aber he couldn’t stand it any longer and was willing to plead guilty. He told his lawyer he noticed a jury member crying and figured “the jury was going to crucify me.”

“’Crucify?’ That’s the first word that came to mind when you are asked how the jury saw you,” prosecutor Chantal Michaud asked Ghazi.

“Yes,” Ghazi replied while characteri­zing what he did to his wife as “an accident.”

Ghazi said he slipped into a depression after Aug. 12 last year, when his young son visited him at the Rivière-des-prairies detention centre. He said his son was able to follow news of his case on his computer tablet and feared he would be “intimidate­d” by other students at school. Pleading guilty in the trial, which began in September and was expected to last six weeks, was “like a gift” to his son, he said.

Michaud had Ghazi listen to a recording of the guilty plea he entered on Sept. 5. In it, the judge can be heard carefully asking Ghazi a standard set of questions to confirm he agrees he admits to the criteria to be convicted of second-degree murder.

Ghazi can clearly be heard answering Buffoni with the word “perfectly” at least twice when the judge asks to make sure Ghazi understood him.

On Thursday, Ghazi denied saying the word “perfectly” even though the prosecutor had the recording played three times.

The hearing offers a rare public glimpse into how an accused prepares for a jury trial. Normally, discussion­s between the accused and their lawyers are strictly confidenti­al. But in this case Ghazi and his two former lawyers have provided written statements and have testified about what they discussed in the months leading to the trial.

On Thursday, Ghazi said he did not agree with Taddeo’s idea to bring in an expert witness to address the delicate question of whether the fetus was an actual human being.

Ghazi said that as a Muslim he felt all along the fetus was a human being and he didn’t want to open that door.

He said he wanted to present a defence of provocatio­n, and was ready to present as evidence a report from youth protection services in which his wife allegedly admitted to having assaulted Ghazi and their children.

The wife’s name cannot be published.

“I never wanted to kill my wife,” Ghazi said. “It was a method of defence, if you will allow me to say that.”

The hearing will resume on Friday.

‘Crucify?’ That’s the first word that came to mind when you are asked how the jury saw you?

 ?? JOHN KENNEY ?? Moulay-badre Aber was one of the lawyers representi­ng Sofiane Ghazi, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.
JOHN KENNEY Moulay-badre Aber was one of the lawyers representi­ng Sofiane Ghazi, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from Canada