The jury in Kingston, Ontario, deliberated for two days before pronouncing a guilty sentence against Mohammad Shafia, 58, his 42-year-old wife Tooba Mahommad Yahya and their 21-year-old son Hamed.
Judge Robert Maranger called the crimes “heinous” and “twisted” as he sentenced the accused to 25 years in prison, and said the evidence clearly supported the charges.
The three defendants were found guilty to the deaths of the couple's three daughters and Shafia's first wife in his polygamous marriage after a four-month-long trial that heard dozens of witnesses testify.
The bodies of the victims -- Zainab Shafia, 19; Sahar Shafia, 17; Geeti Shafia, 13; and Rona Amir Mohammad, 50 -- were found in a car submerged in a canal lock near Kingston, Ontario in June 2009.
Prosecutor Laurie Lacelle told the court during the trial that the deaths were “honor killings” committed to remove the perceived shame the women had brought on their family.
Court testimony told of an abusive home gripped by fear and where the victims receive frequent death threats, in part over the fact that the two eldest daughters had boyfriends without their father's approval.
Shafia and his family had come to Canada in 2007, after living in Australia, Pakistan and Dubai over the previous 15 years.
On the morning of the deaths, a car was discovered underwater at the upper lock at Kingston Mills with the four bodies inside. A post-mortem examination indicated they died of drowning.
Canada has seen 13 such killings -- which are usually seen in countries in the Middle East and South Asia – since 2002, according to Amin Muhammed, a psychiatry professor at Memorial University in Saint John's, Newfoundland.
COMMENTS (4)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
1719660634-1/BeFunky-collage-nicole-(1)1719660634-1-165x106.webp "article")
1732276540-0/kim-(10)1732276540-0-165x106.webp "article")
1732273396-0/Copy-of-Untitled-(72)1732273396-0-270x192.webp "storm bert brings snow and heavy rain to northern uk")
1732269802-0/Copy-of-Untitled-(71)1732269802-0-270x192.webp "methanol poisoning kills six tourists in laos")
1732261957-1/Copy-of-Untitled-(66)1732261957-1-270x192.webp "lava flows towards blue lagoon resort as iceland volcano erupts again")
Poor Afghani women/girls are the most unfotunate people, if not Taliban in Afghanistan then their reps. in the shape of parents in Canada. Deeply saddened indeed.
Sickness of mind has no geographic boundary. The "honor killing" is as abhorable in Canda or Afghanistan or in Pakistan regardless of cast, colour, creed, religion and customs ! I can only praise the Canadian court for coming to right drop scene of this brutal murder.
Great they have reached canada also . no peace there also .Who in their right minds even gives people like them a Visa . hang him there only now
The Afghans, no matter educated or illiterate, seem to be the most fierce nation in the world. They first maligned the society of their neighbors in Pakistan. They went there as refugees of the soviet war and brought with them their intolerant thinking to Pakistan. Now this Afghan, probably a refugee settler in Canada, has brought bad name to that country too. I think the international governments should stop letting these Afghan come into their countries as refugees. Let them live in their Afghanistan and let them kill each other. Stop them to stop this menace from spreading...