Man who killed Meriem Boundaoui in St-Léonard gets five life sentences

The man recently convicted of the murder of 15-year-old Meriem Boundaoui in St-Léonard was ordered on Thursday to serve five life sentences for the reckless shooting he carried out five years ago.

Quebec Superior Court Justice Yvan Poulin agreed with a request from the Crown that Salim Touaibi receive five life sentences in all for killing the girl and the attempted murders of four people who were near her when Touaibi fired off eight shots from inside his car.

The shooting took place on Feb. 7, 2021. Meriem was killed within the context of a feud she had nothing to do with. The dispute involved owners of businesses on Jean-Talon St. W. For months, they had been arguing over how the clients of a hair salon were encouraged to use parking spots on the property of a nearby grocery store.

When he testified during his trial, Touaibi told the jury he was acting as a peacemaker on behalf of members of the Bensalem family, the owners of the grocery store. He also said he was a longtime friend of a member of the Bensalem family who was assaulted the day before the shooting.

A photo of the Jetta that 15-year-old Meriem Boundaoui was killed in on Feb. 7, 2021 in St-Léonard. Court files

On the day in question, Touaibi pulled into the parking lot of a bakery, also owned by the Bensalem family, and fired shots toward a Volkswagen Jetta. People were standing on both sides of the vehicle and Meriem was seated inside.

Meriem, in the front passenger seat, was killed. Another person was injured in the shooting and three other people had reason to fear for their lives, the jury decided in a verdict delivered in March.

The jury was shown a video, recorded by a person tied to the hair salon, of a phone call during which Touaibi had a very heated exchange and demanded that he meet the person on the other side of the call. The call took place shortly before the shooting.

A conviction for first-degree murder comes with an automatic life sentence, with no chance at full parole until the offender has served 25 years. The maximum sentence for an attempted murder with a firearm is life and the mandatory minimum is four years.

Lina Souajui places a stuffed toy at a memorial for shooting victim Meriem Boundaoui during a vigil in Montreal on Sunday, Feb. 14, 2021. Allen McInnis / Montreal Gazette

“If it is true that the accused did not have intention to kill Miss Boundaoui, it is uncontested that he had the intention to kill the people he was tracking down beforehand. That (the shooting) involved the wrong person does not reduce at all his moral culpability at the moment he opened fire on the people he believed he was tracking down,” Poulin wrote in his decision on Thursday.

“The evidence reveals that the responsibility of the accused is full. He acted in full knowledge that he was doing so in a spirit of revenge for a childhood friend.”

When it came to considering the mitigating factors, the judge wrote, they were “practically non-existent.”

“In the present case, the court retains, as aggravating circumstances, the brutality of the gestures by the accused, the high number of shots that were fired (eight), how the accused fired off all the shots he could toward the victims, the premeditated and deliberate nature of his actions, that it happened in a heavily populated area (and) the consequences on the victims.”

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