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| Great White North | |
| Canal victims killed by family: police | |
| 2009-07-24 | |
| Followup to Mark Steyn opinion piece from yesterday The father, mother and brother of three teenage girls from Montreal whose bodies were found in a submerged car in a Kingston, Ont., canal were charged Thursday with killing them and a woman believed to be the father's first wife. Zainab Shafia, 19, Sahar Shafia, 17, and Geeti Shafia, 13, were found dead last month along with Rona Amir Mohammed, 50, in a submerged car at a Rideau Canal lock near Kingston. Parents Mohammad Shafia and Tooba Mohammad Yehya and their son Hamid Mohammad Shafia, 18, have each been charged with four counts of first-degree murder and four counts of conspiracy to murder, Insp. Brian Begbie announced at a news conference at Kingston Police headquarters on Thursday.... The father told police he discovered his car was missing after the family had stopped at a Kingston motel following a trip to Niagara Falls, Ont., the day before. Police said they are looking into whether the deaths were an "honour killing" -- a tribal custom practiced in some parts of the world in which the majority of victims are women who are perceived to have brought shame to their family. "honour killing", tribal custom...just cannot bring themselves to mention a religion? Kingston police Chief Stephen Tanner said he received an email from someone who is likely a relative of the family who claimed it was such a killing. "That will form a part of the ongoing investigation," said Tanner. "There are family members in a variety of parts of the world and investigators will be following up with them. "Whether that was a part of the motive within the family, based on one ... or more of the girls' behaviour is open to a little bit of speculation." Tanner said the girls were living as "Canadian teenagers who have all the freedom and rights of expression of all Canadians." The family, originally from Kabul, Afghanistan, spent 15 years in Dubai before moving to Montreal two years ago. Aha! Must be Presbyterians! in other news... Naila Yasmin had wanted to make the most of her vacation time. The mother of four had a two-week break from her job as a supervisor at the Tim Hortons at Merton St. and Mount Pleasant Rd., and thought it was the perfect time for a quick vacation -- or two. Nooo! Timmy's? Say it ain't so! So after they returned from Niagara Falls on Thursday night, Yasmin convinced her husband, Sanaullah Tarar, to take the kids on a weekend getaway to the Thousand Islands. "She always wanted to use her vacation for the kids," said Tarar, a real estate agent, in a brief interview at his Thorncliffe Park home. They arrived Friday evening at the Best Western Country Squire Resort in Gananoque, but Kinza Kaianad, 14, and Sunaila Kaianad, 11, were up bright and early Saturday morning and convinced their mom to take them swimming in the hotel pool. They wanted to go before it got crowded. A witness said he saw the two girls playing in the shallow end of the pool around 8:50 a.m. while their mother watched from the deck. A short while later, all three were found unconscious and face down in the pool. Yasmin, 43, died Sunday, Kinza died Monday and Sunaila died Tuesday at a Kingston hospital. "They probably didn't even know what a swimming pool was," said a grief stricken Tarar. Friends confirmed the girls didn't know how to swim. Tarar said he was asleep when the girls slipped out with their mom. His two boys, aged 4 and 7, were with him.
The family had moved to Canada from Pakistan seven years ago. The bodies are going to return home to Pakistan on Tuesday for the funerals. A prayer will be held at the Islamic Foundation next week. To review: 7 mysterious deaths. All female. All Presbyterians. All visit to Niagara Falls then Kingston. Definitely something in the water up here. | |
| Posted by:Skunky Glins 5*** |
| #1 AH HAH, a new game, played just like "Name that party" But with a twist, now it's "Name that Religion"? OK, I'll play along. MMMMMMmmm, Methodists? |
| Posted by: Rednrck Jim 2009-07-24 14:44 |