The arraignment for a Quebec father who has been charged in the connection with the deaths of his two children has been delayed once again.
Kamaljit Arora, 45, was supposed to appear on Wednesday afternoon but Crown prosecutors requested it be postponed until the next day due to his “state of health” but did not provide more details. A legal aid lawyer representing him said she has not yet spoken to him.
The accused was arrested after authorities were called to intervene at the private residence on Lauzon Street in Laval’s Ste-Dorothée district Monday evening.
Police officers tried to revive two children inside the suburban semi-detached home, but they were taken to hospital and pronounced dead a short time later. Flowers, letters and stuffed animals have been placed as part of a makeshift memorial in the front yard.
Arora is charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the killings of his children, an 11-year-old boy and a 13-year-old girl. He is also charged with one count of assault by strangulation of his wife, according to prosecutors.
The accused was initially set to appear in court Tuesday afternoon, but it was delayed to the next day after both the Crown and a legal aid lawyer representing Arora told the court he had been unable to communicate since his arrest. After his arrest, Arora was taken to hospital with unspecified injuries.
He was still formally charged Tuesday but a Quebec court judge agreed to put off of the arraignment until Wednesday, when lawyers were hopeful Arora would be able to appear.
— with files from Global News’ Brayden Jagger Haines and the Canadian Press