Report on preliminary hearing in death of three teenage girls described by police as “Honor Killing” — Zainab, Sahari and Geeti Shafia

CTV Montreal reports:

— “A preliminary hearing began on Tuesday in the case of three Montrealers charged in the deaths of four family members.”
— “Mohammad Shafia, his wife Tooba Mohammad Yahya, and their son Hamed Shafia were transported under police escort from the Quinte Detention Centre in Kingston, Ontario to the Kingston Courthouse.”
— “The three are accused of killing the couple’s three teenaged daughters — Zainab, Sahari and Geeti — and Shafia’s 50-year-old first wife, Rona Amir Mohammad.”
— “Their bodies were found June 30 in a car submerged in a lock on the Rideau Canal.”
— “The family members were later charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.”
— “Details of testimony under publication ban”
— “After swearing in translators for the three accused — who speak an Afghan dialect of Farsi — the crown questioned a Kingston police identification officer about 159 photos taken at various locations in Montreal and the Kingston area.”
— “At one point in the testimony, at least one of the parents sobbed quietly. Though police investigated claims the deaths were so-called honour killings, the crown has yet to spell out any motive or cause of deaths.”
— “In the afternoon, the court heard from a police officer who interrogated Tooba Mohammad Yahya in Farsi, but the details of that and other testimony are under a publication ban.”
— “The mother is the only one of the three accused who had not conceded that there was enough evidence to go to trial.”
— “The defence lawyers said they had not yet received all the evidence but were allowing the preliminary hearing to continue.”
— “The hearing is expected to last at least one month.”

— July 31, 2009 – National Post: “Kingston canal victim made several attempts to marry: report”

— July 28, 2009 – Montreal Gazette: A timeline of the Kingston canal deaths

— July 24, 2009 – National Post: “Family’s plans to murder daughters, first wife hatched months before: police”

— July 24, 2009 – Globe & Mail: Car landed in canal via unlikely route – excerpt – image

Globe & Mail: Police are left to sort through a myriad of theories, each with glaring problems and unlikely probabilities.

“We’re still trying to ascertain the why, the why, the why,” said Constable Menor, a 20-year veteran of the force. “It’s the unknowns. I can’t recall anything like it. It was there for a reason, it didn’t drop out of the sky.” …With picnic tables along the canal shore, the tourists from Montreal may have stopped for a moment before the plunge. But 3 a.m. would be an unusual time for a picnic in the secluded spot.

Perhaps the driver didn’t know the canal was there, or perhaps she didn’t care. Police have not excluded a suicide pact, murder-suicide or something as simple as the bad luck of a misguided U-turn or mistaking “drive” for “reverse.”

Another possibility is that the passengers were already dead and someone else pushed the Nissan into the canal, with the four females inside.

— July 23, 2009 – Canada: “Honor Killing” Investigated in Death of Three Montreal Sisters

— Montreal Gazette: — “Zainab Shafia, 19, and her two sisters Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13, were found dead inside a car submerged in three feet of water northeast of Kingston on June 30. Rona Amir Mohammed, 52, was also found dead in the car.”

— July 23, 2009 – CTV: “Father, Mother, Brother charged with killing members of their own family”

— July 23, 2009 – Kingston Police News Conference