An Afghan immigrant who stabbed and nearly decapitated his wife denies she enraged him by asserting her rights and tarnishing his honour.
Peer Khairi rejected repeated suggestions Thursday he killed his wife Randjida, 53, in a murderous fury over her increasing independence and support for their children’s Western ways.
“You said that Randjida was informed that women in Canada have a lot of rights and that’s when she started acting out and insulting you,” prosecutor Amanda Camara suggested in her cross-examination.
Khairi replied he had no idea about his wife’s views on women’s rights, and anyway it was no problem. “Whatever she was doing was her own choice,” he said through a Dari interpreter.
This contradicts notes by Dr. Sanjiv Gulati, a psychiatrist who examined him for this trial last April, reporting he complained about changes in his wife since the Afghan couple emigrated from India, where they were refugees.
Khairi, who claims to be 75, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder. He admits he stabbed his wife and slit her throat, but only after she approached him with a knife and insulted him beyond endurance in their West Mall highrise apartment in March 2008.
Camara suggested Khairi felt dishonoured by his six adult and teenaged children’s Western dress and social lives. “Your wife and daughters did not even wear head scarves,” she said.
“No, that’s not right, it was a proper hijab,” he said, adding he didn’t care if they wore head coverings.
He also denied disapproving of his four daughters wearing makeup, nail polish and clothes that exposed their arms and legs. Yet police reported him complaining they dressed inappropriately.
Camara pointed out he told police and the psychiatrist he disapproved of his eldest daughter, Giti, sleeping over at her fiancé’s house.
“I don’t even think I said such a thing,” he replied. He admitted he lectured Giti about the risks of being taken advantage of by her fiancé, but only out of concern for her reputation.
“You do not want your daughter to have sex before marriage because it would ruin your name,” Camara said.
“Why would it bring shame to me?” Khairi replied. “This is a free country.”
Khairi’s cross-examination continues Friday.