Montreal man guilty of first-degree murder in stabbing of Ottawa mother of four
Fsha Tekhle, 38, was convicted Saturday of killing Brkti Berhe in Paul Landry Park on Oct. 24, 2024, in front of two of her children.
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A Montreal man has been found guilty of first-degree murder for the stabbing of Brkti Berhe, a 36-year-old Ottawa mother of four, in Paul Landry Park on Uplands Drive in the south end on Oct. 24, 2024. The verdict came Saturday morning, after the 12-person jury deliberated for almost five days.
The conviction carries automatic life imprisonment with no parole for 25 years.
Fsha Tekhle, 38, did not deny killing Berhe during the trial. The Crown argued the killing was intentional and deliberate. The defence said Tekhle had driven to Ottawa to return belongings belonging to Ngisti Berhe, a relative of the victim with whom he had been in a domestic relationship, and that the killing was a sudden, uncontrolled reaction rather than a planned murder. The defence asked for a manslaughter verdict.
The Crown said Ngisti Berhe had left Tekhle on Oct. 7, 2024, fleeing their Montreal home, and was afraid for her life. She had sought refuge with Brkti Berhe before the killing. Ottawa Police Service called the death a femicide.
In an impact statement read at the verdict hearing in Tigrinya with translation, the victim's husband, Waldab Goitom, described leaving work for about a year and a half to care for the children. The family left the area four months after the killing. Two of Berhe's four children were in the park, including a three-year-old who saw the stabbing and called out to his mother. The Crown read a letter from the eldest daughter describing her mother as her best friend and biggest support.
