Historic Kingston Penitentiary slated to close

Kingston Penitentiary, Postcard circa. 1905

On the 20-year anniversary of the murder of St. Catharines, Ontario teenager Kristen French at the hands of serial predators Paul Bernardo & Karla Homolka, Public Safety Minister Vic Teows announced that the prison Bernardo has called home since his conviction is slated to close its doors forever.

The maximum security institution has housed some of Canada's most notorious criminals in its 177-year history, including: disgraced former military commander Russell Williams, mastermind of the "honour killing" plot that claimed the lives of four women Mohammad Shafia, outspoken serial killer Clifford Olsen, and bank robber-turned escape artist Ty Conn.

Notorious inmates of Kingston Penitentiary

Clockwise from top left: Paul Bernardo, Paul Bernardo,

Russell Williams, Clifford Olsen

"Weeping women just as capable of evil as men"

Clockwise from top left:
Tooba Mohammad Yahya, Lorena Bobbitt, Melissa Lewis, Karla Homolka

Weeping women just as capable of evil as men 

By: Christie Blatchford
November 14, 2011
The National Post

It was during a break one day in court in Kingston this week, after accused killer Tooba Mohammad Yahya had been sobbing up a storm, that I grunted to a colleague that I was weary of weeping women. 

Guilty!

More than two years after the bodies of Rona, Zainab, Sahar, and Geeti Shafia were discovered, the four women won the justice they were deprived of while they were alive. On January 29, 2012, Mohammad Shafia, his wife Tooba, and their son Hamed were found guilty of murder before a packed courtroom in Kingston, Ontario. News media from across the globe were on hand to hear the verdict, as the trial attracted widespread interest due to the fact that the case against the Shafia family centered around the cultural practice of honour killings; something rarely experienced in contemporary North American society.

Mohammad, Tooba, and Hamed Shafia were each convicted of four counts of first-degree murder, punishable by automatic life sentences with no change of parole for 25 years.

"It is difficult to conceive of a more heinous, more despicable, more honourless crime … The apparent reason behind these cold-blooded, shameful murders was that the four completely innocent victims offended your completely twisted concept of honour … that has absolutely no place in any civilized society."

Ontario Superior Court Judge Robert Maranger

"This jury found that four strong, vivacious and freedom-loving women were murdered by their own family in the most troubling of circumstances. We all think of these four, wonderful women now who died needless deaths. This verdict sends a very clear message about our Canadian values and the core principles in a free and democratic society that all Canadians enjoy and even visitors to Canada enjoy."

Crown prosecutor Gerard Larrhuis

“While I am pleased to see the verdict finding Mohammad Shafia, Hamed Shafia, Tooba Mohammad Yahya guilty of murder, we need also to be reminded of the four innocent lives that were taken, needlessly and senselessly, by their own family members. There is no place in our Canadian society, or anywhere around our world, where a horrendous murder such as this should not be completely and thoroughly investigated and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

Kingston police Chief Stephen Tanner

“To say I am satisfied seems to fail to address this horrible tragedy — the fact that Rona, Zainab, Sahar and Geeti had their lives so violently taken from them; the fact that a family was ripped apart and a community shocked.”

Kingston police Insp. Brian Begbie

Mohammad, Tooba, and Hamed Shafia have all begun the process of appealing their convictions.

Frontenac County Court House

I recently got a new camera, and am fortunate enough to have easy access to a lot of heart-stopping architecture to shoot.

Also, every once in a while, my hometown architecture happens to be of international relevance.

The Shafia Family: Honour Killing on Trial

I have been following the news on this tragedy since the story first broke in 2009. The bodies of 19 year old Zainab, 17 year old Sahar, 13 year old Geeti, and 50 year old "Aunt" Rona Shafia were found in a submerged vehicle in the Rideau Canal.

Even before any arrests were made in connection with the drowning deaths of the Shafia women, the grisly discovery made at Kingston Mills Locks was viewed as highly suspect in the community. Anyone who is familiar with the area would know that it would have been very difficult for a vehicle to 'accidentally' enter the water where it was found. Furthermore, there were no markings on the nearby pavement to indicate that any attempt had been made by the driver of the vehicle to stop or swerve before it plummeted into the water. Police investigators came upon their first real clue when they discovered broken pieces from another car at the scene, suggesting that the black Nissan the women were found dead inside had been pushed into the water by another vehicle. The other vehicle in question also belonged to the Shafia family.

It has been revealed that Hamed Shafia returned to Montreal, where the family lived, in the early hours of June 30 and reported to police that his vehicle had been damaged in an accident. He then made the 250 km drive back to Kingston, where he and his parents, Hamed and Tooba, later reported the women missing at the Kingston Police Headquarters. The Shafias claimed that their eldest daughter, Zainab, had asked for the keys to the Nissan after they had all checked in to a hotel for the night. Zainab drove off with her two sisters and "Aunt" Rona (who was actually Mohammad Shafia's first wife), and hadn't been seen since. 

Police suspected that the Shafia's weren't telling the entire story, and placed the family under surveillance; wire taps were installed in the family's home in Montreal, as well as inside their vehicle. A number of incriminating statements were recorded, which ultimately led investigators to believe that the four dead women were victims of honour killing: a tribal custom practiced in some regions in which the victims are perceived to have brought shame to their family. 

Mohammad Shafia:
Be I dead or alive, nothing in the world is above honour.

Mohammad Shafia (speaking about his deceased daughters; Zainab, in particular):
God's curse on them for generation! May the Devil shit on their graves! Is that what a daughter should be? Would a daughter be such a whore?

Mohammad Shafia (speaking about his deceased daughters):
It was all treason, they committed treason from beginning to end. They betrayed humankind, they betrayed Islam, they betrayed our religion and creed, they betrayed our tradition, they betrayed everything.

The Shafia family is originally from Afghanistan, where the practice of honour killing is not uncommon. Mohammad, Tooba, and Hamed are currently being tried on four counts of first degree murder. Their case has attracted international media attention, as public awareness (especially in the West) about honour killings has been growing since the United Nations brought a resolution to end honour killings and other honour-related crimes. There is currently no reliable estimates for the rate at which honour killings occur.

      

More from Mascara & Murder...

Guilty!

Excerpts from Slain Woman's Diary


Outside Links

CanCrime: (Tag) Shafia Family

Kingston Whig Standard Staff Reporter Rob Tripp maintains this highly informative crime blog, and I've spent countless hours perusing his wares. If you're interested in keeping up with the Shafia Family trial, you'll definitely want to bookmark this blog, as it contains information you won't find anywhere else. Updated frequently!

The Montreal Gazette: Timeline of the Kingston Canal deaths

National Post: These young women are worth fighting for

Thoughtful and informative article by one of my favourite journalists, Christie Blatchford. Blatchford also did some amazing work on the Karla Homolka/Paul Bernardo trials.

The Middle East Quarterly: Worldwide trends in honour killing

A shocking study by Phyllis Chesler

Excerpt from Slain Woman's Diary

Mohammad Shafia (center), flanked by
first wife Rona Amir, and second wife Tooba Yahya

Diaries kept by Rona Amir Shafia before her death were presented as evidence in the case against Mohammad, Tooba, and Hamed Shafia. The slain woman's writings paint a grim picture of what life was like inside the Shafia home before a cold, calculated murder plot was enacted to punish Rona, Zainab, Sahar, and Geeti for their perceived crimes against the family's "honour."

An excerpt:

"Some time later one day Tooba told Sahar to come and peel some potatoes. Sahar told her sister Geeti to go and bring the potatoes. Tooba said [to Sahar], "You bootlick and fawn on others but will not come [to do my bidding]." She summoned Sahar to her and gave her a tongue lashing.

Later, Sahar come home and mixed the medicine Paizin, which is found in handbags for preservation, in some water and drank it. When I came home and saw what had happened I was very upset. I slapped myself and said, "Why do you want death? Why did you take medicine [to commit suicide]?"

Her mother said, "She can go to hell. Let her kill herself."

I said, "Why should she kill herself? Why did you give her to me in the first place? I don't want this to happen."

She said, "This will be the last day for you here."

I said, "You Paghmani, you can't kick me out. You are one wife of his, I am another."

She said, "You are not his wife, you are my servant."

Later Shafie came and I went to bed. The following morning Tooba had told him everything. Shafie was furious at me. I told him everything that had happened since Dubai. I said, "What is it that I am to blame for? What have I done?"

I saw that Shafie calmed down and went back. After a couple of days Shafie sat me down and proceeded to preach to me, telling me that I should try to get along with Tooba. He put the blame on me, even though I was innocent. Each and every time since Tooba entered our family, Shafie has sided with her, even when no blame attached itself to me. This sort of injustice I cannot put up with anymore.

I was so frustrated. I used to wander in parks and cry. When I returned home no one would speak with me except for Geeti and Sahar, furtively, when their mother was not there. It was very painful for me, very difficult. She wouldn't allow any of the children to sleep in my room. I always had to go out to call my family in order to calm down. Then I used to come back and prepare something for myself to eat.

Tooba and I would not speak to each other for some 5-6 months. Then one day, when it was my birthday, Tooba bought a cake and sent it to me by the hand of her daughter and I went to her to thank her. Thus, we reconciled.

The night before, IDENTITY PROTECTED had made us reconcile but we still wouldn't speak with each other. At this juncture, I told Tooba everything, how life was so difficult for me here, and expressed the hope that she would help me. She promised me that she would."

Source: CBC News