Montreal man pleads guilty to 2024 2nd-degree murder of his pregnant wife - CBC

Narjes Ben Yedder died in Jan. 2024 after her partner stabbed her dozens of times. (From Narjes Ben Yadder's Facebook page)Social SharingMustapha Khalil Mechken has pleaded guilty to the 2024 killing of his wife, Narjes Ben Yedder, who was 10 weeks pregnant with his child at the time of her death.

Mechken entered his guilty plea to second-degree murder just as his trial was set to begin in a Montreal courtroom on Tuesday. 

Many of Ben Yedder's loved ones were present. Some family members, including her mother, had travelled from their homes in Tunisia to attend. Judge Marc-André Blanchard said he shared the family's horror upon learning the circumstances of the case.

According to a statement of facts that Mechken signed, his partner Ben Yedder was asleep in her bed the morning of Jan. 26, 2024, when he took two knives from the couple’s kitchen and stabbed her 49 times. Thirty-two of the stab wounds were to her abdomen. 

The day before her murder, Ben Yedder had searched online for an abortion clinic for the first time since the start of her pregnancy.

In the days leading up to the killing, Mechken had mentioned not being ready to have a child, and regretting the purchase of a condo the couple had just had an offer accepted on. 

Mechken had also researched sleep disorders, signs of burnout, depression, and benefits for surviving spouses — including whether he could inherit his wife’s bank account. 

He looked up the length of a prison sentence for murder 17 minutes before calling 911.

During the call, he calmly told the operator that he'd killed his wife. When the operator asked him how, he replied that he used knives and admitted to stabbing her "in the stomach and everywhere, actually."

Montreal police and first responders rushed to the scene of the couple's home in Pointe-aux-Trembles on Friday, Jan. 26, 2024. (Mélissa François/CBC)

When officers arrived at the home in the Pointe-aux-Trembles neighbourhood, they arrested Mechken, whose hands were still bloody.

Ben Yedder was pronounced dead at the scene.

Leaving the courtroom, one of the victim's family members said they were "very relieved" by the guilty plea.

The family will have the opportunity to speak before the judge next Tuesday during the sentencing hearing.

According to Crown prosecutor Pierre-Olivier Bolduc, the proposed sentence is life imprisonment with no possibility of parole for 22 years.

The proposed sentence is at the "very high end of the scale" due to several factors, including the "extreme violence of the acts committed."