Ottawa police deem death of a woman in south end park a femicide

A Montreal man is charged with first-degree murder in connection to the stabbing death of a woman at a park in Ottawa’s south end on Thursday.

The Ottawa Police Service calls the death a femicide, saying the accused was in a domestic relationship with a family member of the victim.

Emergency crews responded to a call for a stabbing at Paul Landry Park on Uplands Drive, between Paul Anka Drive and Bennett Street, at 11:25 a.m. Thursday. The victim died from her injuries.

Police identified the victim as Brkti Berhe, 36, of Ottawa. She was a wife and a mother of four children.

Medhanie Efter, a family friend, said Berhe has been in Canada for between two and three years, after arriving as a refugee from Israel. Efter sponsored the family.

"She is my friend's wife, not just friend, she's family. She was so nice, and she (takes) care her husband and her kids... It's very hard, very hard," Efter said. "He (Berhe's husband) is my best friend. And they are my family and friends." 

On Friday, police announced Fsha Tekhle, 36, of Montreal is facing a charge of first-degree murder.

“Tekhle had a domestic relationship with a family member of the victim, Brkti Berhe,” police said. “This tragic event is a femicide.”

Police say two of Berhe's children were with her at the park. They were looked after by police and bystanders on the scene and transported to hospital as a precaution.

“A femicide is generally defined as ‘the killing of women and girls because of their gender’ often driven by stereotyped gender roles, discrimination towards women and girls or unequal power relations between women and men,” police said in a statement.

“The Ottawa Police Service also builds on the definition recommended by our VAW community partners as 'the misogynist killing of women and girls because of their gender, overwhelmingly committed by men.'"

The suspect was arrested on Highway 417 in the Casselman area early Thursday afternoon.

“The officers on scene were able to run the plate and it came back to an address in Montreal,” Deputy Chief Trish Ferguson told reporters Friday afternoon.

“They determined that he was likely travelling back to Montreal .... with the help of the public who were at the scene, we were able to arrest him so quickly.”

Ferguson said the suspect was not previously known to the Ottawa Police Service.

Yamikani Msosa, executive director of the Ottawa Coalition to End Violence Against Women tells CTV News Ottawa that femicide can include things other than intimate partner violence.

"Femicide could also include a community member attacking a family member that's a woman to get back at them. And they specifically target that family member because she's a woman and because they know that that will have an impact on the male figures within the family and send a clear message. It's the fact that when we think about femicide, it's cultural in that it's part of every culture," Msosa said.

"I think that often we think of femicide as connected to only people that are intimately, romantically connected, but it could be a community member, it could be a family member. It could be also a stranger, but more likely than not, we know 90 per cent of the time it is someone that is connected to the victim and the person who has been killed and murdered."

Coun. Riley Brockington says the South-East Ottawa Community Health Hub deployed trauma professionals into the community Friday afternoon.

Yellow police tape blocked a section of the park, sidewalk and street Thursday afternoon, and several police cruisers were parked at the scene. A stroller could be seen behind the police tape.

"It was a very tough scene," said Det. Chris Benson on Thursday. "Middle of the day, residential area, a lot of families, young kids out and about, it's a nice day. Extremely difficult scene for both the residents and the first responders. The investigation is continuing. There are still several things that need to be completed and that will go on for some time."

This is the 22nd homicide of 2024 in Ottawa.

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-- With files from CTV News Ottawa's Kimberley Fowler