Honour on Trial Read online

  Constable Anne-Marie Choquette, one of the investigating officers, supplied an agreed statement of fact for the trial. "Geeti disclosed an incident that had happened the week before, when she and her siblings had been at a shopping centre and were coming home late," Choquette wrote. "She told police that her father had pulled her hair and hit her on the face. She told police that her brother Hamed hit her in the eye with his fist. Geeti also told police that her father often threatened that he was going to kill them. No marks were observed on Geeti."

  The revelations began pouring from Sahar and Geeti: slapping by Hamed and violence against Zainab by their father. Sahar and Geeti said they wanted to be taken out of the home because they feared their father.

  Then Mohammad Shafia arrived home. "The demeanour of the children changed when Shafia arrived home," wrote Choquette. "After his arrival, the children stopped talking. Some of the children were crying." He spoke to the children in Farsi, which the officers could not understand.

  At around 9 that night, a child protection worker arrived at the home. The discussion continued for some time, mostly in English, occasionally in French, with the children translating for the parents.

  At around 11 pm, Child and Family Services chose not to take action. Despite all they had seen and heard, the social worker decided that the children would stay in the home for the weekend and the interviews would resume on Monday. In Quebec, criminal charges in such situations are determined by Child and Family Services workers. No charges were ever laid. Two and a half months later, Montreal police would be assisting in a mass murder investigation.

  Questions would be asked after the trial about whether Montreal child protection services could have acted differently, perhaps by intervening and removing some of the children from the home. In what was clearly a sensitive situation involving a clash of cultures, were case workers being too respectful of authoritarian traditions and behaviours? Was it a mistake to ask the children to explain their situation in the presence of their parents, especially when they had stated they were afraid of their father?

  The Shafia case, in which a conflict between teenagers and parents emphasized competing cultural values — with the daughters choosing to behave in a more modern Canadian way than their parents could tolerate — has fuelled concerns about the reluctance to adapt by some more conservative immigrants, and the need to move forward and take action even if the family isn't willing to accept intervention.

  Zainab would stay at passages for two weeks. Meanwhile, Hamed and Mohammad were beside themselves. They desperately wanted to find Zainab and bring her home.

  On April 19, two days after the interview at rue Bonnivet, Constable Choquette arrived at the police station to find the two men waiting for her. Did she have any information about Zainab's whereabouts? Hamed said he had managed to get Ammar's cellphone number but that Ammar wasn't answering.

  "They wanted something to be done. They absolutely wanted to find Zainab," Choquette testified. She said she would try Ammar's number.

  When Choquette talked to Ammar, he assured her Zainab was fine and that her departure was entirely voluntary. She was of age, after all.

  The phone calls continued. Ammar stalled. Mohammad and Hamed grew more impatient. "At one point," Ammar said, "the father said, if you don't tell us where she is, we're going to go to the police to make a complaint against you." That's when Zainab and Ammar made a trip to the police station for her to report in person that she was safe and had left her home because she didn't want to be there. Police told the Shafia men to back off.

  The wedding…

  THE parents' and Hamed's strategy then shifted. They decided to let Tooba negotiate with Zainab. A meeting was arranged between mother and daughter at a neutral location, the old courthouse in Montreal. Ammar also went. This 19th century monument to justice, on rue Notre-Dame in Old Montreal, seems like an odd place to set the meeting. However, it is a very public area, near souvenir shops, a tourist information office, and two public squares, Place Vauquelin and Place Jacques-Cartier. Perhaps Zainab hoped her mother would contain her emotions, surrounded by tourists and strangers, or perhaps she feared being dragged off by her angry father and brother, and chose to take no chances.

  Tooba pleaded with Zainab to come home. Zainab refused, knowing how angry her father would be. Tooba told Zainab and Ammar that she would get an apartment so she and her daughters could move out of the house. Despite Zainab's suspicions, Ammar thought Tooba was sincere. "A mother's always a mother," he believed.

  Then Tooba upped the ante. If Zainab came home, she would help arrange her marriage to Ammar. Zainab stayed at the shelter for another week. On May 2, she went home. Not coincidentally, her father had left the day before on another one of his extended business trips to Dubai. He would be gone for several weeks.

  May 18 was set as the date for Ammar and Zainab's wedding, though no one in the family liked the idea of her marrying outside the Afghan community, especially to a young man who had no job, no money, no apparent family support, and what they suspected was a problem with drugs and alcohol. They had also heard a rumour that Ammar was engaged to a young woman in Pakistan, arranged by his family. Ammar has always denied this.

  In order to have a religious wedding in the Muslim tradition, Tooba and Hamed would have to find a mullah to conduct the ceremony. Because they did not attend a mosque, they had to enlist the help of Tooba's uncle, Latif Hyderi, who lived not too far from the Shafias. This was a delicate business within the family system, however. Not long after the Shafias came to Montreal in June of 2007, Latif had suggested an arranged marriage between Zainab and his own son, Hussain. Zainab and Hussain were second cousins. The arrangement was rebuffed. Tooba told her uncle that Zainab was too young to marry and needed to finish her education.

  Though the two families had limited contact after that incident, the Shafias were now desperate. Uncle Latif agreed to help. He even went to the mosque on May 18 with Tooba and Hamed to see Zainab and Ammar being married. Latif's other son, Reza, was there as a witness.

  Following tradition, the celebration was to take place the next day at an Iranian restaurant booked by Tooba and Hamed. The family took Zainab back home that evening where the scene was anything but joyous.

  "Everybody, their hearts were bleeding," said Latif. There were concerns about Zainab marrying "a foreigner." Latif tried to lighten the mood by putting on some music and exhorting everyone to dance. "I told her I'm happy and congratulated her."

  More trouble was brewing, however. Ammar had warned Zainab that his family was also unhappy about the marriage. Tooba and Hamed asked Ammar who from his family would be at the celebration. No one, he said. The Shafias, once again, went into crisis mode. Family honour would be at stake when relatives started to ask questions about the groom's family. Tooba told her uncle that Hamed was so upset she feared he would hit someone.

  "Hamed tried to find someone," Ammar recalled. "He asked me to find someone that could act like my family." Hamed even suggested someone could play the role of Ammar's parents for the day. Remarkably, no one seemed concerned about the most glaring absence of all — the bride's father, Mohammad Shafia, who was paying for the wedding but was out of the country and totally out of the picture.

  The celebration was anything but celebratory. It was, in fact, a total disaster. Ammar arrived with another young man of indeterminate status, which didn't appease anyone. Extended Shafia family members began whispering, scandalized by the non-appearance of Ammar's family. Tooba was beside herself with embarrassment. "Tooba was under pressure. She was crying," said Latif.

  Zainab started crying, too, and that was too much for Tooba, who fainted. Zainab told Latif the only reason she was marrying Ammar was to get out of the house, away from the abuse, with a plan to then take her sisters away, too. She said: "Uncle, this boy doesn't have money and he's not handsome. The only reason I'm marrying him is to get my revenge. I will sacrifice myself for my sisters. At least they will get their f
reedom after me." But the scene with Tooba in the restaurant broke her resolve.

  "Zainab, she threw herself on the chest of her mom and was crying," Latif recalled. "She said, 'I reject this one. I will reject this boy.'"

  By now, the mullah who had married the couple was also asking why there was so much confusion. They explained that Zainab wanted to annul the marriage. He agreed to undo it, but by then Ammar was nowhere to be found. Zainab had already told him she couldn't go through with the marriage.

  "She was crying," Ammar recalled. "I just told her I completely respect [it] if that's what you want. We'll break off the marriage. I just left."

  This created more confusion. If the marriage was to be annulled, the groom had to be brought back to the restaurant. Hamed jumped in the family car and went searching for him. Hamed wasn't about to let this opportunity pass — a chance to get rid of Ammar, the Pakistani interloper, once and for all.

  Hamed found Ammar at a subway station and dragged him back to the restaurant where the mullah presided over the annulment of the brief marriage. To make it official, Ammar and Zainab merely had to repeat the word "divorce" three times. They did and it was all over.

  Food was served but no one had an appetite. Family gathered at the Shafia home to console Tooba. Eventually, the food went to the Hyderis and everyone went there to eat. During the bitter feast, Hussain Hyderi arrived home, oblivious to the mayhem that had just occurred. According to Latif, Tooba said to Hussain that it was he who should have started a relationship with Zainab. Hussain told his cousin he would consider it, but only if Zainab were agreeable. "I have to talk to the girl personally. If we agree, both of us, I will marry her," Latif recalled his son saying.

  A couple of days later, Latif and Hussain went to the Shafias. "He's a shy boy. He's not a boy who went out with the girls," said Latif.

  Hamed was clearly the Shafia power broker in his father's absence, announcing that he was prepared to start the engagement process. The family went outside so Zainab and Hussain could talk. After about 20 minutes, the young couple announced that the engagement could move ahead. No one really knows what was going on in Zainab's mind at this point. Did she really want to marry her cousin Hussain, or was this just another way for her to get out of her father's house with a more acceptable husband?

  There was only one thing left to do: the fathers, Mohammad and Latif, would talk. Latif got Mohammad's phone number from Hamed so he could make the call to Dubai. The response wasn't what Latif had expected.

  Sahar and Geeti…

  IN February 2009, troubles flared up once more at Antoine-de Saint-Exupéry school for Geeti and Sahar. This time, Vice-principal Nathalie Laramée was in charge of their files. Laramée had taught a class for immigrant children coming to Canada who needed to study in French. She knew four of the seven Shafia children — Sahar, Geeti, and two other siblings who cannot be identified because of an ongoing court ban.

  The school had been trying to set up a meeting with Tooba and Mohammad to discuss the girls' behaviour, particularly their chronic lateness and absenteeism. When she met with Laramée, Tooba said she was at a loss as to what to do with the girls.

  "The mother asked me to help her out," said Laramée. The vice-principal warned Tooba that child protection workers would be called again if there was no change. Attendance improved for a couple of months.

  By April, the situation had deteriorated once more with Zainab's disappearance. A family conference took place at the school involving Mohammad, Tooba, Sahar, Geeti, and the younger brother. As well as the girls' usual absenteeism, the brother wasn't completing his homework. Laramée recalled Mohammad Shafia's anger.

  "The father was speaking very loudly in my office and saying, 'What can we do? What can we do?'" said Laramée. The children were interpreting for their father but she noticed he kept saying something about "police." When the parents left, the brother explained that the police had been at their house on April 17 — but that things at home were improving.

  When the brother left the office, Laramée recalled the conversation taking "a different bent" once more. Sahar and Geeti accused their brother of not telling the truth about how things were at home. Sahar told the vice-principal she didn't translate everything her father was saying because of his lies. "My sister and I are afraid in the house," Laramée recalled Sahar saying to her.

  The vice-principal also told court about another perplexing incident that April. Sahar was supposed to go on a school trip to a sugar bush. She showed up late and refused to go along. Sahar told Laramée that Zainab had been in a car accident.

  "Sahar explained to me that she was very preoccupied that her sister Zainab had been hospitalized and she was very worried about her," Laramée said. "She wished also to go see her. She did not want to take part in the sugar bush activity."

  Of course Sahar would be worried about Zainab and want to see her. But it was a lie. Her older sister wasn't in hospital, but had been hiding out at the women's shelter, leaving the family in total flux.

  On May 11, Geeti was expelled from school. She had had a run-in with her teacher and Laramée went to talk with her. "It was a hard lunch hour because Geeti was crying," Laramée said. "Geeti was very angry with her teacher." The teacher had spoken with Sahar who revealed a plot the girls had hatched to leave their home and go live on their own. When the teacher explained that it wasn't possible, that Geeti was too young, Geeti exploded.

  Thirteen-year-old Geeti, Mohammad and Tooba's sixth child (two other children, who cannot be named, were born between Sahar and Geeti), was the most defiant of the Shafia sisters. Closely resembling her mother Tooba in looks, Geeti also seemed to have inherited Tooba's strong will. She had told police she wanted to be out of the house and she wanted to be able to go out freely like her friends. She even asked to be placed with a foster family.

  The 75-minute interview with Geeti was difficult for Laramée. "I was also crying because I didn't know what to do anymore," she said. "Many events were piling up on each other."

  Over the course of the 2008-09 academic year, Geeti had missed 40 classes and was late 30 times. She had to be sent home one day for wearing a revealing sweater, makeup, and earrings considered inappropriate for a 13-year-old. "She was failing in all of her courses," said Laramée. "Things were going downhill fast. Geeti was practically not going to school."

  Geeti only wanted her freedom and to be with her beautiful older sister Sahar. The youngest of the four victims, Geeti was very close to Sahar. At the trial, the Crown presented a page of messages Geeti had written to Sahar, tragically poignant in hindsight: "i wish 2 god dat till im alive i'll never see u sad," she wrote. "i dont know if one day you leave this house wat am i gonna do????" "i promise before dying i'll make all ur wishes cum true one by one." As for the message in the centre of page, Geeti ultimately got her wish: "i hope we'll never be separted [sic]."

  There were even darker family dynamics at play, inside and outside the home. Sahar told Laramée that her younger brother was spying on her at school. He didn't like her friends and threatened to tell their father "she was a whore." Sahar would leave the house in the morning wearing long sweaters and modest clothes. At school she would put on makeup and earrings and more revealing clothes. She changed again before going home in the afternoon.

  Antonella Enea was one of Sahar's teachers during the 2007-08 school year at Antoine- de Saint-Exupéry. She was with Sahar and the vice-principal when the girl made her disclosures of abuse and the suicide attempt. It was at Enea's prompting that she did so. Enea had become Sahar's confidante and was extremely concerned for the girl.

  "At one point in time she told me no one spoke to her at her place," said Enea. "She said she couldn't have a normal life of a young girl, see her friends, things of that nature." Sahar also told Enea that nothing could be done to help her as she talked about the ostracism and physical abuse she was experiencing.

  "It was during that time that she also told me she had taken medication �
� lots of medication," said Enea. One of the sisters was at home and went to their mother to tell Tooba about the trouble Sahar was in. Tooba told the sister not to bother her about Sahar. It was her "aunt" who came to her assistance — Rona, her adopted mother. According to Rona's diary, Tooba said, "She can go to hell. Let her kill herself." The story was enough for Enea, who took Sahar to Vice-principal Fortin to make the report to social workers.

  In 2008-09, Enea had less contact with Sahar, though she did occasionally teach her. In June of 2009, she found Sahar to be desperately afraid. "She told me that her father was supposed to come back from a trip and she was afraid her brother … was going to tell her father she was a whore," said Enea. "I said, 'Do you want me to do something?' She said, 'Yes.'"

  Enea called child protection authorities once more. The agency told her to take Sahar to the school psychologist and arrange to find her a shelter. Enea said they found some shelters but, for some reason, Sahar never went to one. The school year was winding down fast and, when Sahar met with a school psychologist, the talk turned to how to get a job, not about finding a safe place of refuge.

  Sahar's boyfriend…

  WHY would Sahar's younger brother accuse her of being a whore? By June of 2009, Sahar had a steady boyfriend named Ricardo Sanchez whom she had been dating for about four months. Sahar saw Ricardo as her ticket out of the oppressive household. There had already been suspicion about whether Sahar was dating. Sometime during the 2007-08 school year, Tooba went to the school to talk to teacher Claudia Deslauriers. One of Sahar's younger sisters was there to translate for their mother.

  "The mother came to see us to determine if Sahar had kissed a boy — whether she had a boyfriend," Deslauriers recalled. "She seemed to be really angry."