
Murder convictions to stand for Shafia trio who killed four family members
TORONTO — A father, mother and son found guilty in the drowning deaths of three teenaged sisters and another woman who had apparently shamed the family lost their bid Wednesday to overturn their first-degree murder convictions.
In unanimously rejecting an appeal by the Shafia family members, Ontario’s top court ruled among things that expert evidence on so-called honour killings had been properly admitted at their trial and the son was properly tried as an adult.
“Honour was a recurrent theme of discussions among the appellants after the deaths of the deceased,” the Court of Appeal for Ontario said in its decision.
Mohammad Shafia, his wife Tooba Yahya, and their son Hamed Shafia — immigrants originally from Afghanistan — were jointly convicted of murder in 2012.