Accused in 2022 Montreal-area triple homicide makes closing arguments

The accused in a triple homicide trial presented closing arguments today.

The case is about the 2022 killing of a mother and her two children in Brossard.

The accused is facing two charges of first-degree murder and one charge of second-degree murder in the killing of Synthia Bussieres and her two children, five-year-old Eliam and two-year-old Zac.

The accused is the other parent, who now identifies as a woman named Levana Ballouz, but was known as Mohamad Al Ballouz when the deaths occurred.

The three bodies were found at a Brossard condo complex.

During the trial, prosecutors tried to prove to the jury that Ballouz stabbed his partner 23 times while she tried to defend herself. The court was told that he then drank beer while he planned to kill his two children and afterwards tried to destroy the evidence.

Ballouz then tried to kill himself by drinking windshield washer fluid.

Earlier, the Crown also presented a video entered into evidence taken by security cameras on the night of the deaths. In it, Ballouz is seen winking at the lens, something he hadn't done in the nearly 150 previous times he was captured by the same camera.

The accused chose not to have a lawyer and didn't present a defence, but in Wednesday's closing arguments refuted the Crown's case.

She appealed to the jury to put their emotions aside, even if they are parents, and said although Bussieres is dead it doesn't mean she is innocent.

The accused alleged it was Bussieres that killed the children while he was out buying a case of beer and when he got back, she attacked him. He acted in self-defence and her death wasn't intentional.

Then, under the influence of alcohol and medication, tried to kill himself once faced with the fact that his two children were dead.

Ballouz ended by saying “What you have before you is a woman and a mother.”

For Bussieres' mother, having this step of the trial done is significant.

"I’ve been waiting to mourn for two years, it’s horrible," she said. "We went through every emotion and sometimes tell ourselves, 'it can’t be real.'"