Quebec mother guilty of attempted murder in meat cleaver attack on daughter

MONTREAL – A Quebec mother who attacked her daughter with a meat cleaver in 2010 has been found guilty of attempted murder.

Johra Kaleki was convicted Tuesday on the more serious count while two other charges were stayed.

Kaleki’s daughter, then 19, was attacked after having returned home in the wee hours after a night of clubbing as she rebelled against her family’s strict rules.

The Afghan-born mother of four was incensed and said she’d disrespected the family.

The judge rejected a defence argument that Kaleki was not criminally responsible for the act by way of a brief psychotic disorder.

Instead, he relied on a statement Kaleki gave to police in the aftermath of the attack at the family’s suburban Montreal home.

“It is clear that Mrs. Kaleki knew not only that her actions were contrary to law but also that they were morally wrong according to the standard of the ordinary person,” Quebec court Judge Yves Paradis wrote.

“There is no doubt that her intention was to kill the victim.”

Crown prosecutor Anne Gauvin said Paradis took into consideration all of the elements put before him, including a four-hour incriminating statement made by the accused.

“After having assessed this whole evidence, he came to the conclusion that she was responsible for her action,” Gauvin told reporters.

The trial heard that Kaleki struck her daughter twice with the cleaver and tried to choke her.

During the attack, she told her: “you do not deserve this life, you do not deserve anything.”

“Without any doubt, Mrs. Kaleki assaulted her daughter with a cleaver,” Paradis wrote.

“The victim suffered serious injuries; her life was endangered.”

The two sides will return to court March 25 to set a date for a sentencing hearing.

In the meantime, Kaleki remains free.