MONTREAL - The coroner's inquiry into the death of Mohammed Anas Bennis began Wednesday, with the family of the victim refusing to take part even after coroner Catherine Rudelle-Tessier personally appealed to them to enter the proceedings.

Mohammed Bennis Senior, the father of the victim, declined the offer, citing the fact that he had not been provided a free lawyer. 

"I can't get in a debate against highly-skilled lawyers," said the father, who had come from Morocco for the event.

The coroner explained that he did not need a lawyer as the proceedings aimed at finding facts, not making judgments.

But no dice. Bennis still refused.

"I asked that the police witneses also appear without lawyers to level the field, but she declined," said Bennis Senior.

Mohammed Anas Bennis was shot and killed by police on Dec. 1, 2005 on Kent Street in Montreal as he came home from a mosque.

Quebec City police officers conducted the investigation into Bennis's death, and concluded that Bennis randomly attacked police officers with a knife, then was shot to stop the attack.

A coroner announced in 2008 that an inquiry would be held, but the Montreal police brotherhood launched a legal battle against the inquiry, arguing that previous police investigations had already ruled out misconduct.

A Quebec Superior Court judge ruled in 2010 that the inquiry should go ahead, but now that the day has arrived, Bennis's family is refusing to participate.

The family says that they want the province to pay for legal representation at the inquiry, the same as it did for the inquiry into the shooting death of Fredy Villanueva.

As the inquiry began Wednesday morning, the coroner conducting the affair stepped into the hallway to discuss the matter with the family, pointing out that an inquiry was not a trial, and the family did not need a lawyer.

Bennis's father said he would be willing to participate without legal representation, as long as police officers testifying at the inquiry did the same.

Officers scheduled to testify were not willing to agree to that request.

Reliving a deadly day

On Wednesday morning the first testimony came from an eyewitness to the shooting.

A Bell Canada employee named Daniel Boiron, who was in the area while police were conducting a search warrant, said that he saw Bennis jump on a police officer.

"It's as if Bennis flipped a switch and turned into an explosion of rage," he said.

The eyewitness said that he saw Bennis holding a knife before he was was shot.

Another witness who heard the shots said that she saw the officer being treated for stab wounds on his neck and face.

At least one supporter of the deceased believed that the hearings would not establish the truth.

"I have no confidence that the coroners prosecutor will ask the questions we'd be hoping to ask," said Samir Shaheen Hussain.