Murder accused had history of abusing ex before stabbing her and their daughter: Crown

A man accused of murdering his ex-wife and attempting to murder their daughter in a 2021 stabbing in Nepean had a history of abusing his ex, who had called police and sought refuge in women's shelters multiple times before cutting all ties with him in 2020, the Crown alleged in its opening statement to a jury on Tuesday.

Hamid Ayoub, 63, is standing trial on charges of first-degree murder and attempted murder in Ottawa's Superior Court, and has pleaded not guilty.

Before jury selection on Monday, the Crown rejected Ayoub's guilty plea to lesser charges of second-degree murder and aggravated assault, and forged ahead with the more serious charges police had laid.

Nine women and three men make up the jury. They listened intently Tuesday as assistant Crown attorney Cecilia Bouzane recounted a daylight attack outside a rowhouse on Baseline Road that left 50-year-old Hanadi Mohammed dead and her 22-year-old daughter critically injured.

They were returning home with groceries early in the evening of June 15, 2021, when it happened.

Mohammed was stabbed first, at least 23 times, before Ayoub turned the knife on their daughter, the Crown alleged.

'She played dead'

Mohammed died at the scene but the daughter survived and is expected to testify. CBC has agreed not to name her as she continues to heal mentally and physically, and worries being named in media coverage will harm her mental health.

Despite her horror, pain and shock, Ayoub's daughter "knew what she had to do to save her own life: she played dead," Bouzane told the jury. "She played dead despite the gruelling injuries she was suffering. Only then did he stop stabbing her." 

Ayoub then allegedly jogged to his nearby vehicle, leaving a trail of his own blood from a cut on his palm, and drove away, Bouzane said. He was arrested in a hospital while he was waiting to have the cut treated.

With him was a "getaway bag," the Crown alleged, containing a passport, thousands of dollars, toiletries, an unopened tracking device and packaging for another device.

Bouzane alleged Ayoub had earlier placed a tracker in a vehicle used by the former couple's two adult children, knowing that it would to lead him to Mohammed's home on Baseline near Woodroffe Avenue.

Their son discovered the device in the vehicle nine months after the stabbings.

'Their mother lived in fear'

"This attack did not come out of nowhere," Bouzane told the jury.

Ayoub's alleged abuse had resulted in a prior separation, multiple calls to police, and Mohammed seeking refuge in shelters to escape. On one occasion he had armed himself with a knife, Bouzane alleged.

"For most of the children's lives, their mother lived in fear about what he would do next," Bouzane said, adding that Mohammed managed to leave Ayoub for good in August 2020.

One of the calls to police came less than a month before the fatal attack, in May of 2021, after Ayoub confronted Mohammed outside a restaurant just 300 metres from her home, Bouzane alleged.

He accused Mohammed of taking the children, who the Crown said had pulled away from their father after their mother cut ties with him in 2020. Mohammed eventually yelled for help and Ayoub left. Mohammed then called 911 "terrified," Bouzane told the jury.

Audio from that 911 call and other details of Ayoub's past dealings with police is among the evidence prosecutors Bouzane and Louise Tansey will present.

None of the allegations against Ayoub have been proven.

Witnesses testify

Evidence began Tuesday with testimony from witnesses to the busy daytime scene on Baseline, including a woman who lived in a neighbouring unit and heard screaming shortly after opening her window, and another who had just hopped into a vehicle operated by a ride-hailing service.

Both described seeing an altercation involving a man and two women and the man jogging away. After approaching the scene, both witnesses saw one woman lying motionless and another on the ground, pleading for bystanders to help her mother.

The trial is scheduled to run five weeks until mid-October. Justice Kevin Phillips is presiding.

Ayoub's defence lawyers Leo Russomanno and Omar Abou El Hassan are expected to open their case in the coming weeks. They had no comment, citing the ongoing trial.