京士顿运河离奇车祸4尸案调查有进展，警方认为是一宗谋杀案：3姊妹的父母、兄弟被逮捕

[Mike教练]

综合英文媒体报道，6月底发生在多伦多东面城市京士顿（Kingston）附近运河的离奇车祸调查有进展，警方已经改变了早前作为交通意外的推断，认为这 是一宗可疑的刑事案件，并逮捕2男1女，他们当时正开车前往满地可的特鲁多国际机场（Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport）；无论满地可警方还是京士顿警方目前都不愿意透露更多细节，不过表示他们一直在合作调查，并两度到受害人在满地可的家中调查，案情具体细 节会在今天下午公布。

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事发在6月30日，京士顿警方从Mills的水闸一辆坠入河中的汽车内发现4名女子的尸体，汽车沉于约5米深的水下，警方潜水小组花了2个多小时才 将遗体从水中打捞上来；受害人来自魁北克，其3人是姐妹，她们的年龄分别为13、17和19岁，另1名50岁左右的女子是她们的姑妈。

她们都来自阿富汗的 喀布尔，2年前移居加拿大。当时CTV电视台记者对遇难3姊妹的父亲进行了采访，其父对记者说，事发当晚，19岁的大女儿找其母亲要车钥匙，说是要放一些 东西进去，但次日醒来时，发现汽车连同他的3个女儿及50岁的堂妹均离开了酒店，很可能是大女儿未经准许，擅自开动汽车而酿成悲剧；其母也说，他们的大女 儿并没有驾照，但经常拿走汽车钥匙学开车。

据加通社下午的消息，被警方逮捕者分别是3姊妹的父亲萨菲（Mohammed Shafi）、他的妻子以及18岁的儿子，他们昨天准备到机场，试图离开加拿大；4名女性被害，包括萨菲的3个女儿以及他的堂妹，可能涉及 "honour" killing。

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据 CTV网站下午报道，安省京士顿警察总长特纳（Chief Stephen Tanner）在下午2时举行的新闻会上表示，被害3姊妹的父亲萨菲（Mohammed Shafi）、他的妻子（见上图）以及18岁的儿子分别被控4项一级谋杀罪名，他们被控联手操作，将3姊妹及她们50岁保姆所乘坐的汽车弄入京士顿运河 中，致4人身亡；特纳还说，这完全是没有必要、没有意义的杀害无辜家人的行为（needless and senseless loss of innocent human lives）。

 

[Mike教练]

Three arrested in Rideau Canal plunge - The Globe and Mail

Ingrid Peritz and Les Perreaux
Globe and Mail Update Last updated on Thursday, Jul. 23, 2009 02:23PM EDT

<!-- /#credit --> What had appeared to be a tragic accident that left three Montreal sisters and a female relative dead in their car at the bottom of the Rideau Canal near Kingston has taken a criminal turn.

Sources say Kingston police, accompanied by members of the Montreal force, Wednesday morning arrested three people in connection with the deaths. Two men and a woman were reportedly taken into custody on their way to Montreal's Pierre Elliott Trudeau airport.

Police in Kingston refused to confirm any details. But they acknowledged that the three-week investigation into the bizarre incident has shifted focus.

“We're announcing a change in the status of the investigation. That's all I've been permitted to release at this time,” Kingston police spokesman Mike Menor said.

The force will release details at a press conference in Kingston Thursday afternoon.
T
he arrests followed two visits by police to the home of Mohammad Shafi and his wife Tooba Shafi Yahya, the parents of the three girls – Zainab, 19; Sahar, 17; and Geeti, 13 – who died in the early hours of June 30 along with Mr. Shafi's cousin, Rona Amir Mohammed.

For weeks, investigators puzzled over how the car could have negotiated a series of obstacles to end up at the bottom of the Rideau Canal. They initially described the deaths as “suspicious.”



Arrests alter probe into Rideau Canal deaths

Troubling questions about the mysterious case of four Montreal women found dead in a car at the bottom of the Rideau Canal came back to the fore Wednesday after unconfirmed media reports said arrests had been made in the case

 

[Mike教练]

The Kingston Whig-Standard is reporting that Kingston Police have been investigating an allegation that the deaths were an honour killing. "We are convinced that this is a crime of honour," Diba Masoomi told Kingston Police, in an e-mail sent to the police chief's office roughly two weeks ago and referenced by the newspaper.

The Whig-Standard reports it obtained a copy of the e-mail from Ms. Masoomi, who lives in Niort, France. The paper says she claims to be the sister of Rona Amir Mohammed and that she alleges the dead woman was the first wife of the father of the three dead girls.

She provided photos, the newspaper reports, that she claims show Mr. Shafi and Ms. Mohammed at their wedding in Afghanistan 30 years ago, and that the couple never divorced.

No one answered the door at the Shafi residence Wednesday, but neighbours said police had visited twice since Tuesday. They said police from Montreal and from an Ontario force spent at least three hours at the Shafi home on Tuesday, arriving at suppertime and leaving about 9 p.m.
According to one neighbour, one of the couple's two sons said police had taken photographs inside the family home.

Three of the couple's four surviving children were seen being taken away by authorities in an unmarked car. People on the quiet residential street of brick duplexes said Mr. and Mrs. Shafi were seen sitting outside on the steps while police were inside.

“The police were in there for a long time searching the place,” a neighbour said.
Two neighbours spotted police returning Wednesday morning, and said that when officers were unable to enter the home through either the front or back door, they got in through the garage.
An officer was seen leaving with sheaves of papers.

The stillness inside the Shafi home was a sharp contrast to the day three weeks ago when they opened their door to reporters in what appeared to be an unrestrained willingness to share their grief.

Mrs. Shafi, the mother of the dead girls, wept openly about her loss. Mr. Shafi graciously allowed a stream of reporters through the living room, sadly showing family photographs. At one point, he apologized for the behaviour of his adult son, who had aggressively entered the living room and threatened a television reporter.

The couple's two sons are aged 14 and 18. Their two surviving daughters are eight and 15 years old. The family emigrated to Canada from Afghanistan after spending several years in Dubai.

Before the drownings, the seven children and two parents shared a $1,500-a-month apartment.
Both parents strongly suggested the drownings were the tragic culmination of a joyride gone wrong following a family outing to Niagara Falls. Mrs. Shafi said that after the family pulled into a motel for the night after a long drive from the falls, Zainab knocked on her door and asked for the keys to the family's black Nissan Sentra. The daughter said she had left some clothes inside the car that she wanted to retrieve, her mother said.

Both parents described their eldest daughter as a rebellious young woman and said she had taken the car without permission before. They speculated that she had gone for an early-morning drive with her sisters and Ms. Mohamed, and, not being familiar with the area, had ended up in the canal. She didn't have a driver's licence.

The parents said they were unaware of their daughters' disappearance until the next morning, when they woke to find them and the car gone. The car, with the four bodies inside, was discovered at the bottom of the canal later that day.

The family had divided up into two cars for the trip to Niagara Falls, the parents said. The daughters shared one car with Ms. Mohammed, while the parents and their four surviving children travelled in another.

 

[Mike教练]

CTV.ca | Parents, brother charged in Kingston canal deaths

Kingston Police Chief Stephen Tanner speaks at a press conference in Kingston, Thursday, July 23, 2009. (Peter Redman / THE CANADIAN PRESS)


Parents, brother charged in Kingston canal deaths

Updated Thu. Jul. 23 2009 7:32 PM ET
CTV.ca News Staff
A Montreal family has been charged in the deaths of their three teenage daughters and a 52-year-old caregiver, more than three weeks after police pulled four bodies from a car submerged near Kingston, Ont.
According to Kingston police Chief Stephen Tanner, the deaths are a "needless and senseless loss of innocent human lives," and could be an extreme case of domestic violence.
The girls' father, mother and brother all face four counts of first-degree murder each. The four bodies were discovered on June 30 in the Rideau Canal.
The victims are 19-year-old Zainab Shafia and her sisters Sahar, 17, and Geeti, 13. The fourth victim is Rona Amir Mohammad , who was revealed to be Shafia's first wife. She was previously described as a cousin.
Police allege that the parents and their son all operated the car which was dumped in the canal, and that the father lied when he told police the deaths occurred by accident during a family vacation.
Three weeks ago, the girls' father Mohammed Shafia told police that the family was driving home from a vacation in Niagara Falls in two cars.
But after the family had stopped in Kingston for a night, the car carrying the girls went missing, Shafia said at the time.
Shafia reported the car missing to police and said that the eldest girl had been known to take the car out without permission.
Autopsy results haven't been released.
The family is originally from Afghanistan but moved to Canada after spending 15 years in Dubai. Police say the family's culture may have contributed to the deaths.
"All shared the rights within our great country to live without fear, to enjoy safety and freedom ... and yet had their lives cut short by members of their own family," said Tanner.
He also asked for a moment of silence for the victims.
Mohammad Shafia, wife Tooba, Yahya Shafia and their son Hamed Mohammad-Shafia, 18, all face four counts each of murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Early on, the deaths appeared to puzzle investigators as they pieced together how the Nissan had plunged into the water. There was speculation that the deaths were the result of careless driving or had occurred after the car's driver lost control.
However, there were several barriers between the roadway and the water, and police couldn't find significant tire marks which would have been consistent with a case of reckless driving.
After the car was discovered, the remaining family members shared their grief with the media and openly discussed their loss.
Meanwhile, officers continue to investigate an email sent to police which suggests the deaths were the result of a so-called "honour killing."
Tanner said the email may have come from a family member. However, that has not been confirmed, and the allegations contained in the email have not been proven in court.
"That person is far removed from Canadian soil and from direct knowledge so we have to, and will, investigate that fully in coming weeks," he said.
News organizations also received an email, purportedly from a relative, that alleges Rona -- Shafia's first wife -- feared for her life and was regularly threatened by her husband.
The email also states that Shafia thought Western culture was negatively influencing his family, and alleges that "the daughters were beaten regularly, either by him or his son Hamed, because their behaviour was a disgrace to him in his eyes," The Canadian Press reported.