KINGSTON, Ont. — A Montreal couple accused of killing three of their daughters and the man’s first wife have lost a bid to maintain some contact with three of their other children.
Mohammed Shafia and his wife, Tooba Mohammed Yahya, sat quietly as they appeared in a Kingston, Ont., bail court on Tuesday.
A court order prohibiting the pair from communicating with each other or their eldest son and co-accused, 18-year-old Hamed Shafia, remains in effect.
The son was not in court with his parents, but is scheduled to make a bail court appearance by video-link on Friday.
All three are charged with four counts of first-degree murder and matching counts of conspiracy to commit murder in the deaths of three of the family’s daughters, 19-year-old Zainab Shafia, 17-year-old Sahar, 13-year-old Geeti and 50-year-old Rona Amir Mohammed.
Their bodies were pulled from the Rideau Canal near Kingston on June 30 after a car was discovered submerged near one of the locks.
Earlier this month, defence lawyers convinced the court to allow the parents and children to speak, providing that permission could be obtained from child protection authorities in Montreal.
But on Tuesday, a Justice of the Peace rescinded the exemption and again ordered Shafia and Yahya to have no communication with the children.