A Montreal-area couple began making plans to kill their three daughters, along with the husband’s first wife, weeks before the bodies of all four victims were found in a car submerged in the Rideau Canal, police claim in charges filed Thursday.
Mohammad Shafia, 56, his wife Tooba Mohammad Yahya, 39, and their eldest son, Hamed Shafia, 18, all face first-degree murder charges in the deaths, which came to light last month after a Nissan Sentra was discovered in the canal near Ontario’s Kingston Mills Locks.
The bodies of three of the couple’s daughters — Zainab, 19, Sahari, 17, and Geeti, 13 — and Shafia’s first wife, Rona Amir Mohammad, 50, were found inside.
Conspiracy charges filed at the Kingston courthouse reveal investigators believe plans to commit the killings were hatched as far back as May 1, long before the family travelled to Niagara Falls, Ont. The deaths occurred during the return trip to Montreal.
The couple and their son face four counts each of first-degree murder and four counts of conspiracy to commit murder.
An unnamed person claiming to be a family relative wrote the Montreal Gazette, alleging that Shafia was “disgraced” by his daughters’ behaviour in Canada and that he wanted his first wife to return to Afghanistan while hiding the fact they were married.
The author of the e-mail said Shafia married Yahya as his second wife because Mohammad could not have children. The person also wrote that just before the trip, Mohammad told relatives abroad that she was surprised at being included in Shafia’s vacation plans.
In an interview shortly after the deaths, Shafia said his family was originally from Afghanistan — where it is legal for a man to have more than one wife — and moved to Dubai in the 1990s. They came to Canada two years ago.
All three of the accused were ordered to remain detained. The next court date is scheduled for Aug. 6.
At a news conference Kingston police Chief Steven Tanner called the deaths a “senseless and needless loss of innocent life.”
The family’s car was discovered submerged in the Rideau Canal on the morning of June 30. Police traced the licence plate to the elder Shafia, and were preparing to track him down when he showed up at their headquarters to report that his car was missing, along with his daughters and Mohammad, whom he described as his cousin.
He was accompanied by Yahya and their oldest son, Hamed. All three claimed that Zainab often liked to take the Sentra out for a drive without permission.
The family had stopped to stay at a hotel late on June 29 in Kingston. Hamed is believed to have driven the family’s other vehicle, a Lexus SUV, to Montreal and then returned to Kingston after the Sentra was discovered.
Kingston police refused to divulge how the four victims died.
All three suspects were arrested in Montreal on Wednesday.
Police said that one of the suspects appeared to be preparing to flee the country.
Tanner said he was not sure where the suspect was heading, but did say there were concerns it was to a country that does not share an extradition treaty with Canada.
Yahya and Shafia have three other surviving children besides Hamed. All three are currently under the care of Quebec’s youth protection services, police said.