Montreal trial hears accused killer researched murder on Internet
Posted October 27, 2011 6:10 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
A court in eastern Ontario has heard that days before four family members were found dead in a submerged car, someone was conducting Internet searches for murder.
Tooba Mohammad Yahya, 41, her husband, Mohammad Shafia, 58, and their son, Hamed Mohammad Shafia, 20, have each pleaded not guilty to four counts of first-degree murder.
They’re charged in the deaths of Shafia daughters Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13, as well as Rona Amir Mohammad, 50, Shafia’s first wife who lived with the family in a polygamous relationship.
The Montreal family was on their way back from a trip to Niagara Falls, Ont., when the bodies and sunken car were discovered at the bottom of a canal in Kingston, Ont.
A Kingston police officer is testifying today about searches conducted on a laptop used by Hamed Shafia such as “documentaries on murders,” “can a prisoner have control over their real estate,” “where to commit a murder” and numerous searches for areas with bodies of water.
The Crown alleges the girls’ family thought the teens were dishonouring them by having boyfriends, so they killed them and staged the scene to look like an accident.
