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The trial of 36-year-old Khoa Tran and his wife, 30-year-old Quynh Isabelle Nguyen, opened last week in Toronto over the 2023 death of filmmaker Reeyaz Habib, who was 53 at the time, in the Liberty Village neighborhood.

Tran is facing second-degree murder charges, while Nguyen faces charges of accessory after the fact and indignity to a human body. Both have pleaded not guilty, according to Toronto City News.

Authorities in Toronto discovered Habib’s body on June 8, 2023, inside a garbage compactor at a condominium building in Liberty Village. He lived in an apartment directly above the townhouse shared by Tran and Nguyen on Western Battery Road.

During opening statements to the jury, prosecutors said Habib had repeatedly complained about barbecue smoke from the couple’s home drifting into his apartment, Global News reported.

According to an agreement between the neighbors, Tran had previously agreed to text Habib before using the barbecue grill, the court heard.

The court also heard testimony from Linh Hua, a Vietnamese woman who lived with the couple at the time.

Hua, a friend of Tran and Nguyen who was visiting from Vietnam and staying with them temporarily, said she usually slept on a mattress in the living room. However, on the night of June 6, 2023, two days before Habib’s body was found, Tran asked her to sleep in the bedroom with his wife so he could “work” in the living room.

Hua testified that she was woken in the middle of the night by loud footsteps, sounds of chasing and dragging furniture, followed by someone screaming, “Help! Help!,” as reported by Toronto City News.

Nguyen allegedly told her to go back to sleep, assuring her that Habib was likely filming.

After police arrived at the house on June 9, Hua said Tran and Nguyen repeatedly told her not to speak with officers.

“They told me not to say anything to the police. I have the right to remain silent, but if they force me to answer the questions, I should say that all three of us were sleeping in the bedroom that night,” Hua testified, referring to June 6, Global News reported.

Hua complied at the time. In court, she said she “was living under their roof” and had no alternative accommodation or support network in the country.

The investigation eventually led to Tran’s arrest in June 2023.

After Tran was taken into custody, Hua left the couple’s townhouse at the end of June, saying she felt uneasy staying there. She later stayed temporarily with her employer, who provided her accommodation, according to Toronto City News.

When asked what she understood Tran had been arrested for, she said she did not know. However, she recalled Nguyen telling her that police had detained the wrong person and warning that Hua herself could also be mistakenly arrested.

Court-read messages sent in the days after she moved out showed Nguyen repeatedly urging Hua not to discuss Tran’s case with police and to “keep silent.”

Nguyen also cautioned her that police might intimidate or psychologically pressure her into saying something that could incriminate her, advising her to consult a lawyer and record any phone calls with law enforcement.

Hua also testified that she witnessed an argument between Habib and Tran on May 20, 2023, while she and Tran were barbecuing on the patio below Habib’s apartment. She said Habib came downstairs and asked Tran to move the grill farther away before walking off and slamming the door, apparently angry.

The trial is expected to last about four weeks. Investigators reportedly found DNA traces from the couple on tape wrapped around the blanket containing Habib’s body.