Canadian police say they have charged a 40-year-old man with murder of Gambian mum of two Marie Gabriel. 

Jean Fenelon, 40, appeared briefly in court yesterday morning (31 March) from the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre, reports local media. 

He was formally charged with second-degree murder in the death of the 24-year-old Gambian woman.

Details of the proceeding were shielded by a publication ban, reports the Ottawa Citizen. 

Fenelon is accused of beating to death the mother of two on Monday morning.

Marie was found dead inside her townhouse in the suburbs of Ottawa, in Canada.  

Canadian police would not say whether the victim and the accused were known to each other. 

Marie, who grew up in Kololi, in Gambia, left behind two young children, a baby and a toddler