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Two youths have pleaded guilty to manslaughter in the death of 17-year-old Amir Benayad just before their case was set to go before a jury.
Superior Court Justice Annie Émond was scheduled to begin jury selection at the Montreal courthouse on Monday and the trial was expected to begin at Montreal’s youth courthouse on Tuesday. The Gazette has learned the two youths who were set to go on trial opted instead to plead guilty to manslaughter last week.
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The two youths are scheduled to have sentence hearings in December. Both of the youths were originally charged with second-degree murder.
Amir was shot on Jan. 13, 2022 in an alleyway near the intersection of Roy and Rivard Sts. as part of what the Montreal police later described as a dispute between two groups. The killing was Montreal’s first homicide of 2022.
Months later during September 2022, the Montreal police reported they had arrested a 17-year-old as a suspect in the slaying and that they were looking for a second suspect. Then on Dec. 5, 2022, the police reported the second suspect was located in Peru and that he had been returned to Canada to be charged with the homicide.
He was placed on a flight from Lima and was arrested when he arrived in Montreal. He had turned 18 by the time he was returned to Canada.
“The police investigation revealed that (the suspect arrested in Peru) was the alleged shooter,” the Montreal police said in a release in December 2022.
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