Honour Killing Shafia family murders It was a murder committed in the name of honour: Shafia believed his daughters were too interested in boys, too immodest — too Western — to live. And he believed his first wife, Rona Amir, a bad influence on the girls. The Shafia Family murders took place on June 30, 2009 in Kingston, Ontario. Shafia sisters Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13, along with Rona Amir Mohammed, 50, were found dead inside a car that was discovered underwater in front of the northernmost Kingston Mills lock of the Rideau Canal on the same day.Zainab, Sahar, and Geeti were daughters of Mohammad Shafia, 58 and his wife Tooba Mohammad Yahya, 41. The couple also had a son Hamed, 20. Rona, who was herself infertile, was the first wife of Mohammad Shafia in their polygamous household. On July 23, 2009, Mohammad, Tooba Yahya, and Hamed were arrested on charges of four counts of first degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder under the guise of honour killing.They were found guilty of all four counts by the jury in January 2012. The trial, which took place at the Frontenac County Court House, was believed to be a first in Canada conducted in four languages – English, French, Dari and Spanish. Background The Shafia family left Afghanistan for neighboring Pakistan in 1992. From there they moved to Australia then to the United Arab Emirates for over a decade, where Mohammad Shafia had made a fortune in Dubai real estate.They immigrated into Canada and settled in the Saint-Léonard borough of Montreal in 2007. In 1979 or 1980, Mohammad Shafia married Rona Mohammed, who was unable to have children. In 1989, he took Tooba Yahya to be his second wife in a polygamous marriage, and she gave birth to seven children, though Rona played a crucial role in their upbringing and raised the children as if they were her own. When the family immigrated to Canada, Rona was presented as an aunt.Except Rona, the rest of the Shafia family practiced Shia Islam. According to a family members interview, Rona was trapped in an abusive, loveless marriage, trying in vain to convince her husband to grant her a divorce. Ronas siblings claimed that she feared for her life during the days leading up to her death.Tooba, the second wife, allegedly said to Rona “You are a slave, you are a servant.” Reportedly, the Shafias held all of Rona’s identity documents, including her passport, so Rona believed she could not flee to another country, where she had relatives.It was reported that Rona came to Canada as a domestic servant on a visitors visa and the [visas] renewal held over her head like an axe ready to fall by her husband and co-wife. They also stated that the familys eldest daughter Zainabs relationship with a Pakistani boy was a source of much anger for her father, and they claimed to have overheard the fathers threats to kill her. With parents Mohammad Shafia and Tooba Mohammad Yahya, and eldest son Hamed Shafia all in custody during the trial, the remaining Shafia children (two girls and a boy) are being cared for under social services. Investigation On June 30, 2009, a black Nissan Sentra with a broken left taillight was spotted submerged at the Kingston Mills locks, with four female bodies found inside. Mohammad Shafia was at the Kingston Police station to report that four of their family – three teenage daughters and a purported aunt – were missing.Police initially believed that it was a tragic, if bizarre, accident, and first categorized it as a sudden death investigation. However, authorities soon learned that Hamed had reported an accident with the family Lexus SUV in an empty parking lot early that same morning in Montreal. Despite their suspicions, the authorities did not have reasonable and probable grounds or sufficient evidence to ask a judge for a search warrant. Kingston Police Det. Steve Koopman, the liaison with the Shafia family, managed to gain the Shafias consent so that they could view the Lexus. After assessing the damage on both vehicles, police theorized that the Lexus was used to ram the Nissan into the locks. It has been reported that the Shafia family purchased the used Nissan Sentra for CAD$ 5,000 one day before the family left Montreal for Niagara Falls.
Posted on: Thu, 31 Jul 2014 13:45:28 +0000