GUILTY Canada - Montreal family convicted in honor killings

jaycee

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Family charged in possible honour killings of Montreal women in Kingston


BY PAUL CHERRY, THE GAZETTE
JULY 23, 2009 7:03 PM


KINGSTON – A St. Léonard couple allegedly began making plans to kill their three daughters, along with the husband’s first wife, weeks before the bodies of all four victims were found in a car submerged in the Rideau Canal.

Mohammad Shafia, 56, his wife Tooba Mohammad Yahya, 39, and their eldest son Hamed Shafia, 18, all face first-degree murder charges in the deaths which came to light after a Nissan Sentra was discovered in the canal near the Kingston Mills Locks. Conspiracy charges filed at the Kingston courthouse Thursday reveal investigators believe plans to commit the murders were hatched as far back as May 1.

The small detail in the indictment added yet another twist in a story that only becomes stranger at each turn.

A relative of the couple has told reporters she believes the murders were carried out as so-called honour killings. The Kingston police confirmed yesterday that Rona Amir Mohammad was Mohammad Shafia’s first wife and that he was also married to Yahya. A relative who sent an anonymous email to The Gazette alleged that Shafia was “disgraced” by his daughters’ behaviour in Canada and that he wanted his first wife to return to Canada while hiding the fact they were married. The author of the email said Shafia married Yahya as his second wife because Mohammad could not have children .

{mod snip}

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<full article at link>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>


http://www.montrealgazette.com/Charges+allege+murder+plot+began/1816807/story.html
 
Wow. No matter how many times I read about something like this it never gets any easier. This mentality is ingrained in those who believe in it from very early childhood - a fact of enculturation. SInce these beliefs have reigned for centuries and centuries it seems unlikely that change will ever occur. How sad that women still lose their lives in the name of "honor" at the hands of their own fathers.
 
I can't see any justification to label this an "HONOUR KILLING" not that this is an acceptable concept in any case. Just how could a 13 year old girl bring dishonur to the family? Why was the first wife forced to come to Canada? In what way did she dishonour this small man. To then coherse his second wife and a son to murder 4 people ,the son his own sisters! The power yielded is beyond comprehension. If this is the accepted mind set of some of our immigrants then Canada had better incorporate additional screening to the process.
I will venture to guess that the motive will simply come down to, as usual, a monetary issue. They appear to have been enjoying a rather comfortable life style, I wonder what is source of their income?
In some ways this is more rank than some of the other recent murders by spouses and even the poor Billings couple,, as sick as they are, this anihilation is pure evil. This is of course my own opinion, I realize ther are no facts put out by LE as yet.
 
As an American living in Canada, I am shocked and horrified by this crime. Because of the difference in Canadian laws regarding how much information is publicized before the trial, we may have to wait to hear all the details.

And I agree with pattio428 that this may be more "rank" than even the Billings murders because this was planned by parents and a sibling on 3 children. And it sounds like the first wife was treated as an indentured servant by the husband and second wife. These girls were probably acting like "westernized" kids and the older males in the house -- the father and brother-- didn't like it.

I also wonder about the source of their income-- maybe they were one of those families that cons people out of $$. I bet there's lots more to the story.
 
Honor killings often have nothing to do with money, except maybe from the standpoint of a girl choosing a boy whose family is of lesser standing. Often honor killings are about a family feeling they are losing control over their daughters, feeling embarassment and losing face in the community.

There was a sad sad case years ago that originated in British Columbia Canada about a young girl Jassi. The killing was ordered by her own mother. She fell in love with a poor boy and her family could not accept it. They made a movie out of this story. No charges laid in British Columbia against Jassi's family and there is still huge outrage that the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) will not take action.

http://www.justiceforjassi.com/
 
Is the second wife the mother of the girls that were murdered? The article said that the first wife who was also murdered couldn't have children and that is why he married the second wife. I don't see how all three girls and the first wife could have dishonored the family. The article said that one of the girls had dishonored the family in Canada...what about the other two?
I wonder if the rest of the children are all boys? We know that the son helped murder the girls and the ex but an article said that they also have other kids.

I hope all three get the death penalty. That is what they all deserve.

I agree that if these people still believe in murdering their children if they dishonor the family then stay where that belief is upheld. Don't come here and pull this bs. They want to live here then they had better dump some of their beliefs that are way out there. Those poor girls...so young. The ex should have told him to go to hell and stayed where she was living.

Do my posts run off the right and left margins when you guys read them? That is what they are doing on my computer and I don't know how to correct that. It's driving me crazy!
 
No Bobbi- your posts look fine.

They will not get the DP in Canada..too bad.
 
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Crime/2010/02/02/12708741-qmi.html


I cannot even imaging who could be ''supporting'' this couple.....

"A group of about half a dozen supporters of the accused sat in the public benches of the courtroom Tuesday morning, along with another half dozen interested spectators."

One would hope they would be returned to Afghanistan - the trial is expected to last 4 weeks
 
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/Crime/2010/02/02/12708741-qmi.html


I cannot even imaging who could be ''supporting'' this couple.....

"A group of about half a dozen supporters of the accused sat in the public benches of the courtroom Tuesday morning, along with another half dozen interested spectators."

One would hope they would be returned to Afghanistan - the trial is expected to last 4 weeks

Maybe family members? I hope no one is "supporting" honor killings!
 
This case is finally going to trial. There was a 6 month delay as one of the defendents fired his first lawyer. The jury has now been selected and the first witnesses will be called on Oct 20.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/canada-in-afghanistan/Mohammad+Shafia+honour+killing+trial+starts/5554050/story.html

Days after three teenage sisters and their "aunt" were found dead in a submerged car two years ago, the girls' parents offered a tearful explanation for the bizarre tragedy.

The four died when their eldest daughter took the family car without permission, Mohammad Shafia and his wife, Tooba, said. They suggested that their eldest daughter, who didn't have a driv er's licence, crashed the car into a shallow canal in Kingston, Ont., where the family had been staying on their way back to Montreal from a family vacation in Niagara Falls.

Three weeks later, the Montreal businessman, his wife and their adult son, Hamed, were arrested and each charged with four counts of first-degree murder.

Shafia, 58, Tooba, 41, and their son Hamed, 20, have been in custody since their arrest in July, 2009.

This past week, a jury of six men and six women was chosen in a Kingston courtroom to hear the case, expected to run eight to 10 weeks.


To accommodate the Dari speakers, a hi-tech system has been installed to permit three interpreters, who are working inside soundproof booths erected in the courtroom, to translate all of the proceedings simultaneously between Dari and English. Everyone in the courtroom wears headsets connected to wireless receivers.

A significant number of prospective jurors were rejected because they admitted they had hearing difficulties. The judge cautioned that because of the technology and the complex interpretation process, jurors must have good hearing.
 
Can't wrap my head around things like this. I hope they are deported
 
The trial started today;

Alleged murder plot targeted &#8216;treacherous&#8217; daughters, court told


http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/...lot-targeted-treacherous-daughters-court-told

KINGSTON, ONT.&#8212;The teenage sisters were disobedient, shameless daughters. Their &#8220;aunt&#8221; was a thorn in the side for their mother, too sympathetic to the girls as confidante.

And they were all just females anyway, so expendable when family honour was at stake.

Thus, the prosecution told court here this morning, was born a plot and a justification for appalling mass murder: Googled in its planning by the males of the household, clumsily carried out by a mother and a father and a brother, and apparently never regretted afterwards by those charged in a quadruple homicide.

From a wiretapped conversation among the suspects, Mohammad Shafia, patriarch of the clan, tells his wife, Tooba: &#8220;There was no other way. They were treacherous, they were treacherous. They betrayed us&#8230;there can be no betrayal worse than this.

&#8220;They committed treason themselves. They betrayed humankind. They betrayed Islam. They betrayed our religion. They betrayed everything.&#8217;&#8217;

And this, about his dead daughters, about the woman who was his first wife: &#8220;May the devil s--- on their grave.&#8217;&#8217;

Shafia, Tooba Mohammad Yahya and their son, Hamed Mohammad Shafia, are charged with four counts of first degree murder. Their trial began Thursday morning with a 90-minute opening statement delivered by Crown Attorney Laurie Lacelle as a series of photographs depicting the victims were projected on a large screen for the jury.

Zainab Shafia, 17.

Sahar Shafia, 15.

Geeti Shafia, 13.

Rona Amir Mohammad, 53.
 
I know that these people haven't been convicted yet, so the charges are still 'alleged', but just have to say, Zainab, Sahar, Geeti and Rona, you each deserved so much more in life. :cry:

:rose: :rose: :rose: :rose:
 
li-shafiatrial-cp-014726651-620.jpg


The Crown said the teens had complained of being beaten by their father and brother at home, and their school had repeatedly called youth protection.

The eldest daughter, Zainab Shafia, had run away and both of the other two girls had repeatedly told authorities they were afraid and wanted to leave the family home.

The Crown detailed evidence retrieved from a family laptop that showed someone did a Google search on the terms “where to commit a murder,” and “bodies of water.”

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/montreal/story/2011/10/20/shafia-trial-starts.html
 
Their own mother helped to kill them and even said this:

Zainab, when it was found she had a boyfriend, was kept away from school for an entire year. And when Sahar, after an argument with her mother, apparently made an attempt at suicide, Tooba told a worried Rona, court heard: &#8220;She can go to hell. Let her kill herself.&#8217;&#8217;

At first, I thought she was a pawn of her husband, but she is as ****** up as her husband and her son. I've been disgusted by this story since it broke.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/...argeted-treacherous-daughters-court-told?bn=1
 
5588201.bin


This photo from court proceedings shows an aerial view of the Kingston locks where a car plunged into the locks, killing Rona Amir Mohammad, 53, Zainab Shafia, 17, Sahar Shafia, 15 and Geeti Shafia, 13. Their bodies were found on the morning of June 30, 2009. Three family members are on trial for first-degree murder in the case.


White acknowledged making several mistakes that day, in part, attributing it to his inability to foresee the gravity of the situation.


He drove his police cruiser onto the grassy property immediately adjacent to the canal. He walked the property looking for evidence that might suggest the car's path to the water and he found two triangular pieces of clear plastic. He picked them up and put them back down in the same spot, believing they were unimportant.


"Hindsight's 20-20," he told jurors, acknowledging he "would have never touched them" had he realized their significance.


The pieces were later matched by forensic testing to a silver Lexus owned by the Shafia family, along with other similar chunks found in the area. The pieces are crucial to the prosecution theory that the Lexus was used to push the Sentra into the canal when it became wedged on the stone lip at the water's edge. The Crown argues that, in the process, the front driver side headlight and bumper of the Lexus was damaged and pieces broke off.

http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/canada-in-afghanistan/First+officer+canal+drowning+scene+admits+mistakes/5588169/story.html
 
In another version of events, which Hamed gave to a university student hired by his father to assist in the case, he claimed to have followed his sister from the motel, worried because she didn&#8217;t have a driver&#8217;s license and that an accident might occur. They stopped at a closed gasoline station, said Lacelle, and Zainab &#8212; with her sisters and Rona in the car &#8212; agreed to go back. In this scenario, they were looking for a place to turn around and came upon the locks vicinity. In the confusion of the unlit area, Hamed sit he hit the Nissan, causing the headlight to break.

&#8220;While picking up the pieces, he heard a splash,&#8217;&#8217; recounted Lacelle.

It was the Nissan tipping over the stone ledge of the northernmost lock and into the water, said Hamed. He sounded his horn, allegedly jiggled a rope in the water but did not try to rescue the victims. After 15 minutes, seeing no sign of life, he left &#8220;because he had something to do,&#8217;&#8217; as quoted by Lacelle. And he never told his parents about what happened. &#8220;He was afraid police would blame him for allowing Zainab to drive without a license,&#8217;&#8217; was how Hamed explained his actions to the student.

Hamed would return to Kingston from Montreal the following day, in a third family vehicle. Shortly after noon, all three would present themselves at a police station.

Their car was missing, they said.

Zainab, Sahar, Geeti and Rona were missing, they said.

http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/article/1073106--dimanno-alleged-murder-plot-targeted-treacherous-daughters-court-told?bn=1

So, Hamed drove all the way to Montreal and then drove back to Kingston before the family mentioned their missing family members??

Interesting 'explanation'.
 
The veteran police diver who recovered the bodies of three teenage sisters and their stepmother from a sunken car was "perplexed" that he could not determine who was driving the vehicle when it plunged into a shallow canal.

"They were all piled on top of each other almost; it was very strange," Constable Glenn Newell testified Monday at the murder trial of three Montrealers accused of slaying four family members in an alleged honour killing.

Newell explained that he videotaped the scene before he removed the bodies of the victims, one at a time. When the crown prosecutor announced they would play the video on the large monitors in the courtroom, the accused mother motioned to speak to her lawyer. David Crowe told the judge that she wanted to leave the courtroom.

"This may raise some emotional trauma for my client if the video shows her children's bodies in the vehicle," Crowe said. "Your honour has the discretion to excuse her and I'm asking for that."

Justice Robert Maranger asked crown lawyer Gerard Laarhuis if he had anything to say.

"She's entitled to choose not to be present for part of her trial," Laarhuis said.

"I agree," Maranger said. He said the video would be played without Yahya present, beginning Tuesday morning.


Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Police+diver+perplexed+sunken/5600315/story.html#ixzz1bo8mM2vM
 
Jurors also heard that Mohammad and his son Hamed appeared at 2 a.m. on June 30 at the front desk of a small Kingston motel, near the canal, asking to rent two rooms.

When clerk Robert Miller asked how many people were checking in, he was told nine people, then six. He said he saw only the two men and one vehicle, a large grey SUV.

After checking the men in, Miller watched the vehicle leave and head north toward Highway 401.

“It struck me as odd,” he testified. Miller stayed up to watch to see if the vehicle would return but when it was not back within half an hour, he went to bed.

A Montreal police officer testified that she was called to a strip mall parking lot a few blocks from the Shafia home just before 8 a.m. that morning when Hamed called 911 to report a collision in the family’s Lexus with a guardrail.

Const. Nathalie Ledoux said she couldn’t understand why the driver had steered so close to the barrier in the large parking lot. He asked her if he could have the damage repaired right away, Ledoux testified.

A Kingston police identification officer also testified that three days after the Sentra was found in the canal, he realized that pieces of broken headlight lens that appeared to come from the Lexus, and were collected in Montreal and at the canal, appeared to align.

http://news.nationalpost.com/2011/10/25/eerie-pixilated-video-of-alleged-honour-killing-victims-plays-for-court/
 

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