Forensic identification officer testifies at Ayoub trial

The Ottawa courthouse is seen on Tuesday, Aug. 13, 2024. (Patrick Doyle/THE CANADIAN PRESS)

The murder trial of an Ottawa man accused of stabbing his wife to death and attempting to kill their daughter continued Wednesday with a forensic identification officer taking the stand.

Ottawa police detective Erik Burnie took the jury through several crime scene photos that included some appearing to show a trail of blood leading from a townhouse on Baseline Road to a parking lot across the street and clothing allegedly thrown in the garbage by the accused.

Hamid Ayoub has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder and attempted murder.

Court was shown photos of a pair of dark jeans that had been retrieved from a garbage bin outside the Ottawa hospital's general campus along with pieces of a white undershirt that appeared to be covered in blood that had been retrieved from a garbage from inside a men's washroom in the hospital.

Burnie also walked the jury through images from inside a black Nissan Sentra that appeared to show a red stain on the driver's seat and on the steering wheel.

Images of Ayoub's hands that appear to show an injury to a knuckle on his middle finger and one on the palm of his hand.

He also had an apparent injury to his left knee.

The photo of the dark pair of jeans allegedly thrown in the garbage at the Ottawa Hospital, showed the jeans had a tear in them.

"That tear on those jeans was to the lower portion of the left leg?" asked Crown attorney Louise Tansey.

"It was," Burnie replied.

Burnie said he presents evidence collected to the lead homicide detective and whatever is deemed relevant for testing is submitted to the Centre for Forensic Sciences which ultimately decides what will be tested.

In its opening statement, the Crown told court Ayoub had a "go bag" with him at the time of his arrest that consisted of thousands of dollars in cash, two packages for tracking devices—one was just the packaging, and the other was still sealed—prescription medication and a passport with holes in it, among other items.

One of Ayoub's lawyers pointed out to Burnie that Ayoub had no other identification with him in the bag other than a citizenship card and that that bag's contents were not as organized as they were when laid out in pictures for evidence.

"The bag was messy with junk in various sections of the bag," he said to Burnie.

"That's correct," Burnie replied.

Photographs of eyeglasses with an apparent broken arm, a purse with a "severed" strap and a reusable bag filled with groceries at the bottom of a staircase were among those shown in court.

On Tuesday court heard Mohamed had been stabbed 23 times. She died of her injuries at the scene. She had just been returning from grocery shopping with her daughter when she was attacked, the Crown said.

The trial continues on Thursday. 

• Sign up now for daily CTV News Ottawa newsletters
• The information you need to know, sent directly to you: Download the CTV News App