Inquiry into shooting death of Anas Bennis set

The long-delayed coroner’s inquiry into the mysterious shooting death of Mohamed Anas Bennis by a Montreal police constable in December 2005 is scheduled to start April 27.

The Quebec Coroner’s Office has announced that coroner Catherine Rudel-Tessier will begin hearing evidence on that date at the Laval courthouse and scheduled it to continue for at least three days.

Bennis, 25, was shot and killed by Constable Yannick Bernier by on Dec. 1 after they collided accidentally on Kent Ave. as a police group was carrying out an unrelated operation.

According to the police version, Bennis, who was walking home from prayers at the neighbourhood mosque, brandished a knife and twice stabbed an officer during the collision while Bernier fired his service weapon in self-defence.

The city of Montreal and the Montreal police Brotherhood until recently have attempted to block efforts to hold a public inquiry, arguing that it has been subject to sufficient scrutiny.

The Brotherhood, representing 4,500 Montreal cops, has argued that four investigations – by a Crown prosecutor, the Quebec Police Ethics Commission, Police Ethics Committee chairperson (on appeal) and a judge who examined a private criminal complaint – have cleared Bernier of any wrongdoing.

A police officer cannot be faulted for firing his weapon if it is a case of legitimate self-defence.

The Bennis family, however, has been pressing for a public inquiry, arguing that the scrutiny of the other hearings was not in sufficient depth and left a series of unanswered questions.

In September, the Quebec Superior Court rejected the city and police union’s argument that a broader inquiry was unnecessary.

When the Supreme Court of Canada refused to hear their appeal in a similar case –the death of Michel Berniquez in 2003 after he was detained by Montreal police – the police union withdrew its bid to appeal the ruling clearing the way for the Bennis inquiry.

If the coroner needs more than three days to hear witnesses, the inquiry could continue beyond April 29, the Quebec Coroner’s Office said.