Canadian Couple Sentenced to Life in Person for Killing Their 3 Daughters

A Montreal couple and their son were convicted Sunday of first-degree murder in the deaths of four family members in a case the judge called “despicable,” “heinous” and stemming from “a completely twisted concept of honour,” the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation reports.

Mohammad Shafia, his wife Tooba Yahya and their son Hamed, who had pleaded not guilty, were each handed an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years. They were accused of killing Hamed’s three sisters and his father’s childless first wife in a polygamous marriage.

The bodies of Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti Shafia, 13, along with Rona Mohammad Amir, 50, were found in the family’s Nissan, submerged in a lock on the Rideau Canal on Jun. 30, 2009.

In a statement following the verdict, federal Justice Minister Rob Nicholson called honour killings a practice that is “barbaric and unacceptable in Canada.”

“This government is committed to protecting women and other vulnerable persons from all forms of violence and to hold perpetrators accountable for their acts.”

During the nearly three-month trial, the Crown maintained the family road trip was part of a plot to kill the four because they had tainted the family’s honour. The Crown alleged the family’s patriarch was upset that his two eldest daughters wanted boyfriends, betraying his traditional Afghan values.

While the jury had a significant amount of evidence to consider, more than 160 exhibits and testimony from nearly 60 witnesses, most of that evidence was circumstantial.

Patrick McCann, Hamed’s lawyer, told The Canadian Press his client will appeal and his parents likely will as well.