Almost three months after the nebulous murder of the Moroccan national Ashraf Thimoumi, whose body was found in a hidden car in Stoneham-et-Tewkesbury, two men from Lac-Saint-Jean were charged with first degree murder.
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Keven Prévost-Bouchard, 35, from Albanel, was already detained for a crime associated with another firearm story when he was charged with first degree murder in this case. He appeared directly from the Roberval detention center. The second suspect, Éric Guénette, 34, from Normandin, was arrested on Wednesday and faces the same charge, the most serious in the Criminal Code.
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The murder would be related to the world of narcotics, according to the provincial police force, which did not give further details on this subject.
Photo QMI Agency, Marcel Tremblay
The 20-year-old foreign national from Morocco, Achraf Thimoumi, was found dead, shot and killed on Chemin des Familles in Stoneham on August 8.
His body had been concealed in a car, hidden away from view. A teenager returning from a bike ride discovered the bloodied victim. According to witnesses, several shots were heard during the night.
The body of Mr. Thimoumi was repatriated to Morocco on August 16. He had emigrated to Canada in 2019 to pursue studies.
Heavy criminal past
Keven Prévost-Bouchard was arrested with other accomplices in early September on charges of robbery using a prohibited weapon, threatening to kill and using a firearm with an indictable purpose and discharging the weapon .
Prévost-Bouchard then went to a chalet with the victim’s son with a 9mm pistol for reasons that could not be specified, but a bullet was fired during an altercation without causing any injuries. The 9 mm had been seized from the accused, and a sawed-off .12 caliber rifle had also been found.
He returned Monday for his release hearing, but the decision was taken under advisement by the judge. The man, who has more than 50 criminal records since 2012, had pleaded to the judge that he wanted to get out of the criminal world to take care of his children.
As for Éric Guénette, he seemed very disturbed during the appearance. The one who appeared by videoconference cried during the short hearing and wiped his eyes.
He was found guilty of breaking and entering with felony intent, fraud, theft and impaired driving in 2007. After serving his 12-month sentence – and before his court appearance on Thursday – he won’t had never set foot in a courthouse again.
By law, both men are automatically detained unless they apply for a bail hearing. DPCP prosecutor Me Matthieu Rochette indicated that the two men’s next appearance in court, scheduled for December 5, would serve to complete the disclosure of evidence.
Relief
In Montreal’s North African community, which had been shocked by the violent death of the victim at such a young age, news of the arrests was received with relief.
“We are very relieved to learn that finally, we [a pu] arrest people who have a link with this murder, that this murder will not remain unsolved like many others in the past”, indicates the journalist Rachid Najahi, who had helped the family of Achraf Thimoumi to repatriate the body to Morocco.
The link between the crime and narcotics, put forward by the investigators, however, comes as a surprise.
“In his immediate entourage, among his friends, no one was aware” that the victim could have been involved in this kind of affair, underlines Mr. Najahi, who operates the information site for the Maghreb community Atlas Media.
This twist will no doubt bring some comfort to the family of the deceased, who were looking for answers.
“We hope the truth will come out, that’s all,” her big sister Oumayma Thimoumi confided to the Log a few days after the tragedy. She then said that she had no reason to believe that people could have wished harm to her brother.
– With the collaboration of Jérémy Bernier and Dominique Lelièvre