Wife likely died before children's deaths, pathologist testifies at Brossard triple murder trial

The accused in the Brossard triple homicide trial was back in court on Tuesday where a pathologist was questioned about the 2022 killings.

Mohamad Al Ballouz, who now identifies as a woman, was arrested in September of that year in connection with the killing of her wife and two sons. She is now representing herself in the trial at the Longueuil courthouse.

The accused now goes by the name Levana Ballouz and cross examined the pathologist on the case as she tries to convince the jury she didn’t murder her children.

On Monday, Ballouz suggested her dead wife was responsible. In court on Tuesday, she cross examined pathologist Yann Daze, who performed the autopsies on all three bodies.

Synthia Bussieres is seen in this family photo. (Court handout)

Ballouz was charged with the second-degree murder of Synthia Bussieres and the first-degree murders of their sons, who were two and five.

The Crown prosecution’s theory is Ballouz stabbed Bussieres 23 times before killing the children, then started a fire inside their condo. The bodies were discovered by firefighters — Bussieres was near the bathtub, while the boys were lying in bed with Ballouz in the middle.

The pathologist previously testified Bussiere's body showed more advanced signs of rigidity than the children and that "it’s logical to conclude" she died before them.

When pressed by Ballouz Tuesday, Daze said it's possible the children died before Bussieres. He testified he can’t determine the cause of the children's deaths or exactly when they died, but in his opinion they were not natural deaths.

Daze added the children had no trace of smoke in their lungs and no carbon monoxide in their blood.

Ballouz asked if the fact the children were in the bedroom under the covers would explain that. Daze replied they likely died before the fire because there were no burns on their skin or soot in their airway, meaning they weren’t breathing.

He is the 34th person to testify at the trial, closing the Crown’s case. The prosecution says it’s now up to Ballouz to call witnesses to the stand.

"I have no idea what impact a defence could have in this case. The number of witnesses, the length and nature of these testimonies," said Crown prosecutor Eric Nadeau.

Ballouz said she intends to call 17 witnesses to the stand.