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KINGSTON, ONT. - They kept it secret, they planned it together and then participated in a quadruple execution.
Mohammad Shafia, his wife Tooba Yahya and their son Hamed are cold-blooded killers of their own kin, a jury here was told Thursday.
Crown counsel Laurie Lacelle made no bones about how she feels. She urged the seven-woman and five-man jury to convict the defendants of first-degree murder of the "honour" slayings of four members of their own family.
She says there is no other way for justice for victims Zainab, Sahar, Geeti and Rona.
"The evidence is overwhelming and irrefutable," she told the jury of the drowning deaths at the Kingston locks in June of 2009. "You know this was not an accident, this was murder."
With the accused looking on and showing little emotion from the prisoner's box she urged the jury to "disregard" the defence and send them away for life.
"This mother, this father, this brother killed their own daughters and sisters and co-wife and co-mother," said an emotional Lacelle. "They planned it and carried it out together...Shafia on wire taps said there was no other way. Now it is your turn. Find them all guilty as charged,. On the evidence there is no other way."
Soon the jury will get its opportunity to decide if this is as what the Crown alleges or nothing more than a terrible accident.
Justice Robert Maranger will instruct the jury today and then hand them the case. This should happen at the end of the day Friday which should mean weekend deliberations.
But with three months of testimony and 58 witnesses it has not been easy getting here.
And Thursday will be a day to remember.
It started with Kingston Police evacuating the historic Frontenac County Courthouse thanks to a security threat. The judge, jury, lawyers, press, spectators and the accused were all removed from the building. The place was buzzing.
"It's been a weird day," Maranger said later.
The security concern resulted in bomb-sniffing dogs being brought in from Ottawa, new and stricter security measures being installed and a late start to the court day.
In fact, Lacelle did not get the opportunity to finish her closing argument until almost 3 p.m. Court did not adjourn until after 8 p.m.
And it won't get any easier on Friday when Maranger will read his 240-page charge to the jury.
"It will be a long day," he warned the jury. "Maybe have an extra cup of coffee in the morning."
As bizarre, and tedious, a day as Thursday was, the trial is winding down and it will very soon be in the hands of the jury.
When they go into their deliberations, they go with a request from the defence to dismiss a "preposterous and impossible theory" by the Crown that there was an "honour murder" and "acquit" this family.
Saying there is "reasonable doubt" there just was not enough time to stage such a strange set of circumstances as drowning four women with no one hearing or seeing them do it
But Crown Lacelle told the jury what they should dismiss the defence's contention and remember the Crown only has to prove the murders did happen and that the suspects were at the scene when it did happen. "We know all three of them where there," said Lacelle. "They were all there because they all had a role to play -- killing four people in one transaction in a complex exercise that was planned and required an assignment of roles."
She said from wire intercepts "you can tell Mohammad Shafia killed his daughters, and Rona, and felt entitled to do so to protect his family's honour."
A jury will very soon decide if this is indeed what happened here and by going late and starting early Judge Maranger has made it clear no security threat is going to get in the way of that.
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