Jury convicts 3 Shafia family members of first degree murder

KINGSTON, Ont. – Three members of an Afghanistan-born Montreal family have been found guilty of killing three daughters and a co-wife in what the judge describes as “cold-blooded, shameful murders” resulting from a “twisted concept of honour.”

A jury took 15 hours to find Mohammad Shafia, 58, his wife Tooba Yahya, 42, and their son Hamed, 21, each guilty of four counts of first-degree murder in a case so shocking it has riveted Canadians from coast to coast.

Even after the verdict was read, the three denied killing sisters Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13, Shafia as well as Rona Amir Mohammad, 52, their father’s childless first wife in a polygamous marriage.

Their bodies were found June 30, 2009, in a car submerged in a canal in Kingston, Ont., in a multiple murder to avenge the family’s outrage because the girls sought teenage freedoms from their controlling father and brother.

As the verdicts were being read, Hamed put his head in his hands and hunched over while standing.

Soon, his mother Tooba started to cry.

When the judge asked if they each wanted to say anything, they one by one declared their innocence.

Global’s Shirlee Engel, who was inside the court when the verdicts were tweeted that Mohammad Shafia told the court “We did not commit a murder and this is unjust.”

His son Hamed said: “Sir I did not drown my sisters anywhere.” He leaned forward, Engel tweeted, put head in his hands as his parents put their hands on him one at time.

Shafia’s wife, Tooba, responded: “Your honourable justice, this is not just. I am not a murderer, and I am a mother, a mother.”

But the judge was unmoved, and spoke directly to the cultural cloud that has hung over the case since it began.

“You have each been convicted of the planned and deliberate murder of four members of your family…(A verdict) clearly supported by the evidence presented at this trial,” said Judge Robert Maranger.

“It is difficult to conceive of a more despicable, more heinous crime…the apparent reason behind these cold-blooded, shameful murders was that the four completely innocent victims offended your completely twisted concept of honour…that has absolutely no place in any civilized society.”

“The apparent reason behind these cold blooded shameful murders, that completely innocent victims offended your twisted notion of honour, a notion founded on domination and control of women, a sick notion of honour that has no place in a civilized society.”

“It’s difficult to conceive of a more heinous, more despicable, more honourless crime…. ”

Throughout the judge’s statement, Hamed put his head in his hands, while at one point both his mother and father rubbed his back to console him.

The Crown theory was that Shafia, Yahya and Hamed drowned the four victims elsewhere on the site, placed their bodies in the car, then pushed it into the canal with the family’s other vehicle.

The defence had said it was an accident, that they had gone for a joy ride with Zainab driving and accidentally plunged into the canal with Hamed watching, although he didn’t call police.

Outside court, Crown attorney Gerard Laarhuis said the verdict is a reflection of Canadian values that he hopes will resonate.

“This verdict sends a very clear message about our Canadian values and the core principles in a free and democratic society that all Canadians enjoy and even visitors to Canada enjoy,” Laarhuis said to cheers of approval from onlookers.

Lead investigator Det. Sgt. Chris Scott praised Crown lawyers for allowing the four women to finally be heard.

“They gave these victims a voice when they had none and so I appreciate their work.”

–With files from Canadian Press