MONTREAL — A Quebec Superior Court judge has delivered a message against gun violence in handing a Montreal man two life sentences for his role in a drive-by shooting that killed a 15-year-old girl.
Justice Yvan Poulin told a courtroom today that Meriem Boundaoui’s death in 2021 highlights the consequences of illegal weapons trafficking and the dangers it poses to the public.
Poulin sentenced Salim Touaibi to life in prison for Boundaoui’s death and gave him a second life sentence for the attempted murder of four people who were nearby. He has no chance of parole for 25 years.
A jury convicted Touaibi last month of first-degree murder for pulling up to a car and opening fire, fatally shooting Boundaoui as she sat in the passenger seat of the targeted vehicle on Feb. 7, 2021.
Poulin described Boundaoui as a bystander who was in the wrong place at the wrong time and was caught in the crossfire of a conflict between two family businesses that did not concern her.
He said Touaibi had been tracking down his rivals to kill them, and the fact that he shot the teen instead doesn’t make him any less guilty.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 16, 2026.
Morgan Lowrie, The Canadian Press