The second alleged murderer of Meriem Boundaoui was accused Thursday of killing the 15-year-old girl in broad daylight in the borough of Saint-Léonard last year. His accomplice had been arrested and then charged for the same reasons earlier this week.
Posted at 12:21 p.m.
Wearing a black sweater, 27-year-old Aymane Bouadi briefly appeared before a judge at the Montreal courthouse on Thursday morning. The young man faces one count of premeditated murder and four other charges of attempted murder against four other people who were at the scene when the crime was committed.
These are the same charges that were filed against Salim Touaibi, a 26-year-old man arrested and later charged on Monday. The two men are considered to be the main suspects, who were said to have been in the vehicle from which the shots were fired.
According to our sources, Bouadi was the passenger, and Touaibi the driver. In both cases, the rest of the legal proceedings have been set for July 22, by videoconference. They will remain detained in the meantime.
Me Anne-Andrée Charette, deputy chief prosecutor and head of the Assizes team at the Director of Criminal and Penal Prosecutions (DPCP), indicated that the two men are accused in “separate” files, but that there could be “subsequent steps” to hold their trials simultaneously. The police investigation could also continue to progress between now and the next hearing, said Mr.e Charrette shortly after the appearance.
Recall that on Wednesday, 16 months after the murder of the teenager, five additional suspects had been arrested, including Aymane Bouadi. It is not yet known when the other suspects will appear, who have been arrested on other counts, including threats, assault with injuries or drug trafficking.
Originally from Algeria, Meriem Boundaoui was in Quebec to study and lived with her sister in La Prairie. She was shot dead on February 7, 2021. She was with a friend, a passenger in a car immobilized in the parking lot of a bakery on rue Jean-Talon, in the borough of Saint-Léonard, when the crime is occurred. At that moment, three projectiles went through the window of the car she was in before hitting her in the head.
According to our information, the young man who accompanied the teenager was talking with other young people when a car with two individuals on board passed near the group standing near the vehicle and opened fire in its direction. One of the youths standing near the vehicle was injured.
With Daniel Renaud