Trial begins in crash that killed daughter of Worcester murder victim

Toni Caushi, Worcester Telegram & Gazette
·2 min read

WORCESTER ― The trial for one of two men charged in a deadly crash near the police station in October 2021 that claimed the life of a 35-year-old woman started Friday at Worcester Superior Court.

In a suit, Mfouad A. Faris, 29, turned around at the defense bench Friday to face a jury pool of more than 50 filling the courtroom benches before selection began for a 14-member jury trial.

Faris's charges of manslaughter and vehicular homicide stem from a crash on Goldsberry Street during an alleged drag race between Faris and Fares N. Shaikh-Omar, then 20, who is also charged in the case.

Using surveillance video, prosecutors have alleged that about 2 a.m. on Oct. 10, the two men took off at a green light on Summer Street near Thomas Street, with Faris entering the wrong lane of travel in an attempt to pass Shaikh-Omar, who was driving a white BMW 335.

Allegedly speeding as fast as 70 mph, Faris lost control of his Mitsubishi Lancer, going into a tailspin and crashing into a car going the other way, according to prosecutors.

A woman in the back seat of Faris’s car, 35-year-old Jessica L. Simone of Worcester, was ejected out the back window, landing in the parking lot of Worcester police headquarters.

Jessica Simone reads a statement in 2014, during the trial of Matteo Trotto, who was convicted of murdering her father, Kevin Harkins. Mfouad A. Faris now faces a vehicular homicide charge in the crash that killed Simone in 2021.
Jessica Simone reads a statement in 2014, during the trial of Matteo Trotto, who was convicted of murdering her father, Kevin Harkins. Mfouad A. Faris now faces a vehicular homicide charge in the crash that killed Simone in 2021.

Simone, a hairdresser who at the time of the crash was studying to become a radiology technician, was pronounced dead a short time later at UMass Memorial Medical Center, according to prosecutors.

According to her obituary, Simone was the daughter of Kevin Harkins, a man who disappeared from a Worcester pub in 1994. Three men have since been convicted of murdering him.

A Worcester County grand jury charged Faris and Shaikh-Omar with manslaughter, motor vehicle homicide and other charges on Nov. 10, 2021.

Both men are refugees from Syria, lawyers said in October 2021, with Faris obtaining citizenship in 2019. Neither has been charged with a serious crime before, lawyers said at the time.

While the two men are being tried separately, 13 of the 14 jury members needed for Faris’s trial were selected Friday.

Selection is set to continue Monday, while the trial itself is expected to last no more than three days, according to Judge William J. Ritter.

This article originally appeared on Telegram & Gazette: Mfouad Faris trial in crash that killed Jessica Simone in Worcester