Montreal Man Pleads Guilty to Stabbing Pregnant Wife to Death

A man has pleaded guilty to brutally stabbing his pregnant wife to death while she was sleeping in Montreal. The 45-year-old accused, Mustapha Khalil Mechken, attacked his 32-year-old wife, Narjes Ben Yedder, with two kitchen knives at their apartment in the Pointe-aux-Trembles area near Montreal in January 2024. He stabbed her approximately 50 times, including 32 wounds to her abdomen. Yedder was 10 weeks pregnant with their first child.

Following the killing, Mechken personally called 911 and calmly told the operator that he had murdered his wife. Shortly before the attack, he had searched online for information about not wanting to care for his child and the possible punishment for committing murder.

According to reports, he was under significant mental stress over the responsibility of raising a child and the expenses of a recently purchased condominium. The prosecution has sought a life sentence with no possibility of parole for 22 years. A decision on the sentence could be delivered next week.