The Montreal Police Brotherhood argued in court on Tuesday there is no need for a coroner's inquest into the shooting death of Mohamed Anas Bennis because the case has already been thoroughly investigated.

The union's lawyer asked a Superior Court judge to nullify the decree ordering a coroner's inquest into the shooting death of the Côte-des-Neiges man by police 3½ years ago.

Const. Yannick Bernier shot Bennis, 25, in December 2005, as Bennis walked home from morning prayers at his local mosque. Bernier reported his life was in danger because Bennis, who had no criminal record, attacked him with a knife.

The lawyer for Bernier and the police union, Pierre Dupras, relied on several reports to make his case for stopping the coroner's inquiry.

Dupras quoted from the results of the Quebec City police investigation into the shooting, and the report by prosecutors who concluded there were no grounds for laying charges against Bernier.

Dupras was allowed to refer to the reports after the judge allowed them to be used.

Justice Claude Champagne rejected arguments by the lawyer for the Bennis family that the reports should be kept out. The family opposed the use of the reports because they didn't want the union to use them to argue the Bennis case had been extensively investigated already.