The suspicious circumstances that led to a car, carrying the bodies of three sisters and their father’s first wife, being submerged in the Rideau Canal began to unravel on Thursday, amid allegations of an unfathomable scenario where the girls’ parents and brother conspired in a premeditated murder.
Conspiracy charges filed at the Kingston courthouse on Thursday reveal investigators believe plans to commit the murders were hatched as far back as May 1.
The small detail in the indictment added yet another twist in a tragic story that appears to border on the bizarre -- including tearful displays of mourning by those who are now accused of murder, allegations from relatives that it may all have been over honour, and a revelation that the adult initially described as a cousin was actually a first wife.
The bodies of Zainab Shafia, 19, her sisters Sahari, 17, and Geeti, 13, and 50-year-old Rona Amir Mohammad were pulled from a Nissan Sentra on June 30, after the car was discovered in the canal near the Kingston Mills Locks. Police refuse to disclose how they died.
Mohammad Shafia, 56, his wife, Tooba Mohammad Yahya, 39, and their eldest son, Hamed Shafia, 18, all of Montreal, are charged with four counts each of first degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Police said on Thursday they treated the case as suspicious from day one, even as the apparently distraught parents presented another theory to reporters - that the deaths were the end to a foolish joy ride spearheaded by the eldest daughter, who did not know how to drive but liked to take the car out for a spin without permission.
Police called that scenario false on Thursday and alleged that the three accused were the ones operating the Nissan the night of the deaths. Investigators say they have evidence to link them and a second family vehicle, a Lexus, to the locks.
In a Kingston courtroom on Thursday, Ms. Yahya gave a quick smile to a family friend seated at the front of the audience section and waved.
Her 18-year-old son displayed no emotion in the courtroom, but when he was later led away from the courthouse in an unmarked police car he fixed his eyes on his mother, who was in a minivan parked nearby. Mr. Shafia appeared confused when asked about his birthdate.
All three of the accused were ordered to remain detained.
A relative of the couple has told reporters she believes the murders were carried out as so-called honour killings, but police refused to comment on a possible motive.
“Some of us have different core beliefs, different family values, different sets of rules; certainly these individuals, in particular the three teenagers, were Canadian teenagers who have all the freedom and rights of expression of all Canadians,” Kingston police Chief Stephen Tanner said at a press conference on Thursday. “Whether that was a part of a motive within the family - based on one of the girls’ or more of the girls’ behaviour - is open to a little bit of speculation, but combined with other investigative issues as well.”
Kingston police confirmed on Thursday that Rona Amir Mohammad was Mohammad Shafia’s first wife, and that he was also married to Ms. Yahya. A relative who sent an anonymous e-mail to the Montreal Gazette alleged that Mr. Shafia was “disgraced” by his daughters’ behaviour in Canada, and that he wanted his first wife to return to Canada while hiding the fact they were married. The author of the e-mail said Mr. Shafia married Ms. Yahya as his second wife, because Ms. Mohammad could not have children.
In an interview conducted shortly after the deaths, Mohammad Shafia said his family was originally from Afghanistan, where it is legal for a man to have more than one wife, and that they moved to Dubai in the 1990s. They came to Canada two years ago and moved into a duplex in the northeast end of Montreal. His family name is spelled Shafia on his permanent resident card and on several legal documents, including the murder indictment filed against him on Thursday. However, during an interview weeks ago, he claimed the correct spelling is Shafii.
Kingston police were able to say they completely disbelieve Mr. Shafia and Ms. Yahya’s theory of how the car might have ended up in the canal.
The Nissan Sentra was discovered in front of the northernmost lock wall of the Kingston Mills Locks, the vehicle’s front facing the wall. Police learned from the licence plate that the car was from Quebec and was registered to Mr. Shafia and prepared to track him down.
But around 12:30 p.m. the same day, Mr. Shafia showed up at Kingston police headquarters to report that his Sentra was missing, along with three of his daughters and Ms. Mohammad, whom he described as his cousin. Joyce Gilbert, who lived downstairs from the Shafias, said she never suspected Mr. Shafia had two wives, but instead thought Ms. Mohammad was a close family friend or relative because she lived with the family.
All three suspects were arrested in Montreal on Wednesday. The police denied a report that they were heading to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau International Airport at the time. They did say, however, that one of the suspects appeared to be preparing to flee to another country.
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.