Montreal-area man, 56, pleads guilty to manslaughter in wife’s stabbing death

Longueuil Metropolitan Police Service patrol car, Wednesday, February 22, 2023, in Longueuil. (Ryan Remiorz/The Canadian Press)

A Montreal-area man has pleaded guilty to manslaughter after fatally stabbing his wife in the neck during an argument two years ago.

Mohamed Ali Mosbah, 56, was initially charged with second-degree murder after his wife’s death on Feb. 18, 2024, but pleaded guilty to the lesser charge at the Longueuil courthouse on Tuesday.

According to an agreed statement of facts, the argument stemmed from a yearslong unresolved conflict between the couple revolving around the time Mosbah spent with his children from a previous marriage.

A judge granted a publication ban in the case, which prevents details about the identities of two witnesses to the killing from being published.

According to the court document, on the day of the killing, Mosbah’s wife, Hayette Bouguellid, became angry that he was going to visit his children, whom he had not seen for about a week because of Bouguellid’s birthday celebrations.

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She yelled at him for it, saying, “You’re not going to see your kids—you’re going to see another woman!” and “Don’t come back, don’t come in, pack your bags!”

Efforts to talk to his wife were unsuccessful, so he left their home in Saint-Basile-le-Grand, Que. as planned that morning. When he returned at night, Bouguellid said to him, “How’s your lover?” and slaps him in the face.

“The accused is stunned. No previous argument had ever escalated to the point of physical violence,” according to the statement of facts.

After turning his back on her, she went toward the kitchen where she grabbed a small, glass coffee table and tried to attack him with it. He dodged it, and she headed toward the kitchen to grab a knife.

A struggle ensues and Mosbah managed to grab the hand she used to hold the knife and, during the altercation, he stabbed Bouguellid three times on her neck, two of which were fatal.

According to two witnesses at the scene, “the defendant shows no reaction; he does not speak, he does not look at her, he looks only at the victim lying on the floor,” the document stated.

Moments before police showed up to arrest him, Mosbah recalled that his wife said to him, “I love you, Ali,” in Arabic.

Mosbah’s guilty plea means both parties avoid having to go to trial.

Both the Crown and defence agreed that Mosbah’s actions went beyond the legal scope of the potential defences he could have raised at the trial, such as provocation or self-defence, “however, these potential defences would negate the specific intent required for a conviction of second-degree murder.”

Mosbah is scheduled to return to court in May for sentencing.