The 29-year-old brother of two women found stabbed to death Friday in south Ottawa has been charged with one count of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder.

Musab A-Noor refused to appear in court Sunday morning but was charged nonetheless in the deaths of 29-year-old Nasiba A-Noor and 32-year-old Asma A-Noor.

The bodies of the two sisters were found at around 9 p.m. Friday when police were called to a home on McCarthy Road near Paul Anka Drive.

Ottawa police said a man was later arrested near a set of train tracks close by.

An Ottawa police cruiser is parked outside a home on McCarthy Road where sisters Asma and Nasiba A-Noor were found dead on Dec. 16, 2016. (CBC)

On Sunday, police confirmed the two sisters had been stabbed to death.

According to court documents, Musab A-Noor was charged with first-degree murder in the death of Asma A-Noor, while the second-degree murder charge pertained to the death of Nasiba A-Noor.

'Gentle souls'

Hundreds of people paid their respects to the two women during a funeral service Sunday afternoon at the Jami Omar Mosque on Old Richmond Road.

Imam Sikander Hashmi of the Kanata Muslim Association said Nasiba A-Noor had taught at the Tarbiyah Learning centre with his wife.

Many of her former students attended Sunday's service, Hashmi said.

"We would often see her walking out to catch the bus. It's just so tragic, you know, that today we're here to offer her funeral prayers," he said.

"[They were] gentle souls, and what's most tragic is that the world needs more people like this."

The deaths of the A-Noor sisters are the city's 23rd and 24th homicides of 2016.

The Ottawa Police Service is currently conducting a review of its historical homicide data, but the last time Ottawa saw this many homicides in a single year was likely 1995 — when the number of homicides was somewhere between 23 and 25.