“The war has begun”: this is what Dahia Khellaf said to a colleague about her divorce from Nabil Yssaad. Fearing he would no longer see his children, her husband allegedly killed the 42-year-old woman and her two young boys in December 2019, as his mental health deteriorated.
What there is to know
- The start of the coroner’s investigation reveals that in August 2018, Dahia Khellaf filed a complaint against her husband, Nabil Yssaad. The couple had two young boys and lived in the Pointe-aux-Trembles area of Montreal.
- A court order prohibiting Nabil Yssaad from approaching or communicating with his ex-partner was imposed in December 2019.
- A few days later, Dahia Khellaf and her two children were found dead in their home. Nabil Yssaad allegedly killed them before killing himself in Joliette.
“It was when she announced her decision to separate that the problems began”: the divorce proceedings initiated by Dahia Khellaf would have made Nabil Yssaad angry and paranoid, explained Wednesday morning Najla Ben Ammar, a former colleague of the victim .
His testimony was heard before the coroner Me Andrée Kronström, on the third day of the public inquiry into the death of Dahia Khellaf and her 4 and 2 year old sons, Adam and Aksil. It was Nabil Yssaad, spouse of the mother and father of her children, who allegedly committed this triple murder in December 2019. The 46-year-old man then killed himself by throwing himself from the sixth floor of a Joliette hospital.
The victim had confided her relationship problems to her colleague. Dahia Khellaf found her husband immature, irresponsible and nonchalant. He was not fulfilling his financial responsibilities in the family, she had told her friend.
Separation is imminent. Nabil Yssaad’s mental health is deteriorating. He easily falls into “delusions” and believes his wife wants to take him out of the house mortgage, M revealedme Ben Ammar.
No shared custody
The fate of the children after a possible divorce was at the heart of the couple’s concerns. Dahia Khellaf wanted full custody of her two sons, while her husband pleaded for shared custody.
PHOTO TAKEN FROM NABIL YSSAAD’S FACEBOOK PAGE
Nabil Yssaad
The announcement of the definitive breakup would have come three months before the triple murder. “She wanted to separate, to live alone with her children. She didn’t want her children to live with arguments,” her friend explained.
Dahia Khellaf passes by her colleague’s office the day before the tragedy and makes her understand that she is at the end of her rope. “She had already told me: ‘the war had begun’, shortly after the announcement of the divorce,” said Mme Ben Ammar. She confided to her friend that her husband threatened to kidnap the children, but never had any serious fears for the safety of her sons.
Worrying behaviors
“He was stalking her,” revealed Mme Ben Ammar, who worked with the victim in 2018 when the couple’s relationship was on the rocks. Despite a court order preventing him from approaching his wife, Nabil Yssaad went to the home to clear snow from the car, Dahia Khellaf confided to her colleague. He was always around, prowling the neighborhood alleys and near his partner’s workplace.
“She told me that she often encountered him when she went to pick up the children from daycare, as if he was trying to stalk her. She found it abnormal,” the witness repeated.
Dahia Khellaf sought a solution to her marital problems in 2016 via her employee assistance program. However, she appears refractory during her meeting with the social worker and refuses to answer certain questions from the worker. “She was irritated. She questioned the relevance of meeting a social worker. Instead, she wanted a psychologist,” recalled Catherine Allaire-Loiselle, a retired social worker responsible for the victim’s file at the time.