Instead of making cards and trinkets for Mother’s Day this weekend, Elana Fric-Shamji’s children can only lay flowers at her grave. It will be a painful day for her two daughters and young son, who still cannot bear to hear her name, their grandmother told a Toronto courtroom Wednesday. Ana Fric was among the family, friends and colleagues of the beloved family doctor who read out victim impact statements in court, detailing the suffering they have endured since the 40 year old was killed by her husband, physician Mohammed Shamji, on Nov. 30, 2016. “For two and a half years, we have had to not only deal with our own horrific loss but also the children’s even more horrific loss,” said Ms. Fric, who is now raising her grandchildren, who are 14, 11 and 5. “He has destroyed all of our lives forever. The children still cannot bear to have their mother mentioned because it is so painful to them.” Story continues below advertisement The youngest, she fears, will not remember her at all. Husband of murdered Toronto physician Elana Fric-Shamji gets life sentence Opinion: A doctor’s murder shows the reality of domestic abuse Doctor charged in death of physician wife pleads guilty to second-degree murder “His family, including myself, will make sure he knows and will fully appreciate all his mom did for him and how much she adored him,” said Dr. Fric-Shamji’s sister, Caroline Lekic. And when the time comes, she told Dr. Shamji directly, “he will be informed about you – and what kind of husband you were to his mother.” Two days after Dr. Fric-Shamji filed for divorce, her husband beat and choked her to death in their bedroom. He stuffed her body into a suitcase and dumped it in a river 35 kilometres north of the city. Afterward, he carried on as though nothing had happened, explaining away her absence, then pleading ignorance when it was evident she had disappeared. Ms. Fric and her husband, Joseph, spoke tearfully Wednesday about how proud they were of their hard-working daughter and how they took on double shifts at their auto plant in Windsor, Ont., to help pay for her medical school tuition. It was during her residency in Ottawa that she met Dr. Shamji, a neurosurgeon. “She was so full of hope in those early days, looking forward to an exciting career and an exciting life,” her mother remembered. "But it was not to be.” From a distance, the pair appeared to live an enviable life. They held multiple prestigious degrees and led ambitious professional and personal lives, running marathons and travelling to conferences around the world. But behind the rosy appearances they kept up on social media, their 12-year marriage had been “volatile and dysfunctional,” rife with escalating verbal, emotional and physical abuse. Story continues below advertisement On the eve of his trial last month, Dr. Shamji pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, which carries a mandatory sentence of 25 years in prison. At his sentencing hearing Wednesday, the Crown and defence jointly submitted that he should be eligible for parole after 14 years. Justice John McMahon is expected to deliver his sentence Thursday morning. The plea means Dr. Fric-Shamji’s oldest daughter – a key witness – has been spared from testifying about the night of the murder. Then 11 years old, she awoke to banging and then her mother’s scream coming from the bedroom. Then silence. When she went into the room to investigate, her father ordered her back to bed. When morning came, her mother was gone. In their victim impact statements, friends and colleagues expressed guilt and regret that they hadn’t detected signs of danger – and hadn’t reached out when they knew there was trouble in the marriage. “It breaks my heart that I didn’t do anything,” said Matthew Mountain, a friend of the couple. “I thought of myself as a good judge of character, when clearly I wasn’t.” Another friend, Lisa Salamon, spoke about the “punch in the gut” she felt when she learned of her friend’s murder. Dr. Fric-Shamji, she told the court, was gregarious, gorgeous and witty. She was a woman colleagues looked up to and friends confided in. The two women were together the weekend before the murder, at an Ontario Medical Association conference in Toronto. Dr. Fric-Shamji, her friend recalled, had decided to finally leave her husband. Story continues below advertisement “How happy she was,” Dr. Salamon remembered, “how certain she seemed of a better future for herself and her children, knowing that she was taking the necessary steps to leave her abusive marriage.” This murder, she said, has been a jolting reality check for their small medical community. “So today we honour Elana with a legacy to take care of each other, in a way that we were unable and unaware of, to take care of her when she needed us.” Letters of support were also submitted to the court by relatives and colleagues of Dr. Shamji. His parents expressed shame and remorse for their son’s actions. They wrote that they pray his time in prison “yields rehabilitation and healing." Patients, too, wrote letters praising his good work. One noted the “palpable void” his absence has left in the province’s medical system. During his own brief address to the court, Dr. Shamji turned to his two daughters, sitting in the front row. “I’ve devastated your lives. … I can only say I’m sorry,” he said to them. “I hope that the memories of your mother will help you to be brave and supportive of each other as you navigate the terrible circumstances that I have created for you.” Reflecting back on that night, he said, “I should have killed myself and not Elana.” Story continues below advertisement “You should’ve,” Ms. Lekic muttered. Outside court, she dismissed his apology. “He’s only sad because he got caught,” she said. “He’s not sad for my sister, he’s not sad at all.”<doc-sep>A Toronto judge has sentenced former neurosurgeon Mohammed Shamji to life in prison for the second-degree murder of his wife Dr. Elana Fric-Shamji, the mother of their three children who has been described by friends as an exceptional doctor. Shamji must serve 14 years in prison before he can first apply for parole, Justice John McMahon said Thursday morning. Shamji, who has been in custody since Dec. 2, 2016, will be eligible for parole in 11-and-a-half years. The 14-year period of parole ineligibility, which is in the middle of the usual range for domestic second-degree murders, “reflects the gravity of the violence in the domestic murder but also acknowledges the remorse and the plea of guilty and the positive antecedents of the accused,” McMahon said. The sentence was jointly proposed by the Crown and the defence. The brutal and painful way Fric-Shamji was murdered and Shamji’s admitted history of abuse against his wife were aggravating factors in the sentence, McMahon said. No one should be killed for leaving an abusive relationship, he said. By murdering his wife, Shamji also robbed the community of a talented doctor and their three children of their mother, he said. “The enormity of that loss will be felt by the children for the rest of their lives,” McMahon said. Ahead of Mother’s Day, instead of making cards and trinkets for their mother, they lay flowers on her grave,” he said. However, by pleading guilty and taking responsibility for his actions, Shamji spared his eldest daughter, now 14, the trauma of testifying at her father’s murder trial — though she did testify at his preliminary inquiry — and saved his children and his wife’s family “reliving this nightmare further,” McMahon said. He accepted that Shamji was remorseful based on his statements during the sentencing hearing. McMahon also noted Shamji was a highly skilled neurosurgeon who saved many of his patients’ lives through his work and had been “an important contributing member of our community” on a professional level. “It is a difficult juxtaposition between saving their lives and taking his wife’s life,” he said. He also has the support of his family, which improves his chances for rehabilitation and eventual reintegration into the community, McMahon said. Several members of Fric-Shamji’s family stood and looked directly at Shamji as he was handcuffed in the prisoner’s box. He will not be allowed to contact his children without their written consent. It will be up to the Parole Board of Canada to determine whether Shamji is released after he can apply, McMahon said. In a brief statement after the sentencing, Crown prosecutor Henry Poon said the case has been tragic and difficult. “For most people, regardless of what your sense of right and wrong or what your sense of justice is, the focus of any responsible resolution in this case should be squarely on the welfare of the children going forward,” he said. “That focus was reflected in the joint submission that was negotiated between responsible counsel and accepted by the judge today.” Outside the courthouse, Ana Fric read a lengthy statement outlining the domestic abuse her daughter endured for 12 years, “in the hope that other women in similar circumstances will realize that unless they have the courage to leave their partners, they could suffer the same fate.” Fric and her husband Joe, who stood nearby, both said while they don’t feel justice was served, they accept the outcome was in the best interests of the children. Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... “In my heart, I will always believe that this was a premeditated act of first-degree murder. But I know that the law requires proof beyond a reasonable doubt and we do not have that proof and (Shamji) has not admitted it,” she said. Fric-Shamji’s friend Maggie Keresteci said more needs to be done to prevent intimate partner violence and support women in leaving abusive relationships. “If you know of someone who you suspect is being abused, or who tells you they are being abused, listen, really listen and then help them to act; to make a plan to leave and don't let it drop,” she said. “Elana's words when we voiced concern for her haunt me. She said "he wouldn't do anything that stupid.” He did and others will unless we say no more and unless we make sure people can safely leave.” Read more: Dr. Elana Fric-Shamji’s children lost their ‘champion,’ family and friends testify at killer’s sentencing Fric-Shamji murder case exposes dangers women face ending relationships, advocates say on eve of killer’s sentencing Opinion | Rosie DiManno: Shattered family’s grief on display at neurosurgeon’s bail hearing Shamji pleaded guilty last month, admitting to strangling his wife in their family home in November 2016, two days after she filed for divorce. In the days after he continued his normal routines, lying about his wife’s whereabouts and planting evidence to frame the man she had been having an affair with. At the end of his sentencing hearing Wednesday, Shamji stood in the prisoner’s box and spoke in court for the first time about what he’d done. “Somehow I turned my back on my oath and calling and took a life, Elana’s life. It makes no sense to me. I don’t know how I could cause such pain and anguish,” he said. “I should have killed myself and not Elana.” Myrna Dawson, a professor at the University of Guelph and leading researcher on domestic homicides, said the 14-year parole ineligibility period is in line with the average in cases where women have been murdered by intimate partners in the past several decades in Ontario. And while sentences have increased in recent years, her research shows there remains an “intimacy discount” when the sentences are compared to non-intimate murders, she said. “We have to ask ourselves what the sentence would have been if it had been a stranger who had beaten and choked a woman and stuffed her into a suitcase and disposed of her like garbage. Would he have gotten a plea? Would his sentence have been this low?”<doc-sep>Liam Casey, The Canadian Press TORONTO -- Relatives of a Toronto woman murdered by her husband expressed heartbreak and rage Wednesday, telling a court her death had shattered their family. Their emotional statements came at the sentencing hearing for Mohammed Shamji, a 43-year-old neurosurgeon who pleaded guilty last month in the death of 40-year-old Elana Fric Shamji, a well-respected family physician. "He has destroyed all of our lives," Fric Shamji's mother, Ana Fric, told the court. "Elana was the child that every parent could hope for." Court heard Fric Shamji had served her husband with divorce papers two days before he attacked her, broke her neck and ribs, and choked her to death as their three children slept nearby. Shamji stuffed his wife's body in a suitcase and dumped it in the Humber River, court heard. He then went to work as usual, performing surgeries while his wife was reported missing. Fric Shamji's body was found a day after she was last seen on Nov. 30, 2016, and police arrested Shamji 24 hours later. Fric said she and her husband are now raising the couple's three children. "Instead of playing with their mother, they have to lay flowers on her grave," a teary Fric told the court. "I thank God everyday for the children. They are the only things that keep me alive." Court has heard that heard the couple's marriage was volatile and included physical and verbal abuse of Fric Shamji by her husband. Fric said her daughter had been looking forward to a new life after filling for divorce, away from the abusive relationship she had with Shamji. "Then everything was taken from her, from us and those children," she said. Fric Shamji's sister also gave a statement to the court, staring at Shamji, who was dressed in a blue suit as he sat in the prisoner's box. "Elana was stolen from her family, her friends, her children, her patients, her colleagues, but most importantly her three children," said Carolin Lekic. "The wrong life was taken." Fric Shamji's mother told the court her daughter had always been a good kid, working a part-time job as a teen and performing well in school. Her parents thought she'd become a teacher after university but one day, in her early 20s, Fric Shamji surprised her mother with a letter of acceptance to medical school at the University of Ottawa, court heard. "Mom, aren't you proud of me?" Fric recalled her daughter saying at the time. "Of course!" Fric remembered responding. She and her husband worked overtime, logging long days to help pay their daughter's way through medical school. Court heard Fric Shamji became a well-respected family physician with more than 1,000 patients. Her father, Joe Fric, described the sorrow and pain he's endured since the day he had to identify his daughter's body at the morgue. "Going to identify my daughter will haunt me forever," he said through tears. "No parent should ever have to do that." Shamji's defence lawyer, meanwhile, said about 14 letters had been filed with the court in support of his client. "This is a terrible tragedy," said Liam O'Connor. He said Shamji had a sterling career, coming out of high school with Ontario's top average. Shamji eventually went to medical school at Queen's University, where he won the class's gold medal. He authored 92 academic articles and became a pioneer in neurosurgery, O'Connor said. He has performed more than 1,000 surgeries, and hundreds of them were "life saving," the lawyer said. "He has three wonderful children he loves dearly," he said. "Sadly, and unfortunately, this crime is what now defines him." A second-degree murder conviction carries a sentence of life in prison with no chance of parole for 10 to 25 years. The Crown and defence are both asking the court to set the parole ineligibility period for Shamji at 14 years.<doc-sep>The husband of slain Toronto physician Elana Fric-Shamji was sentenced Thursday to life in prison with no chance of parole for 14 years, after pleading guilty last month to her November, 2016, murder. “This is an extremely tragic case. Three young children have lost their mother forever,” Superior Court Justice John McMahon told the courtroom as he delivered his sentence Thursday. “It is also yet another case of domestic homicide, which this court sees all too frequently.” Mohammed Shamji, who was a neurosurgeon at the time, killed the mother of three in the couple’s bedroom on Nov. 30, 2016 – during an argument, two days after she had filed for divorce. He beat and choked her to death and then forced her body into a suitcase, which he dumped in a river 35 kilometres north of Toronto. He carried on from there with his usual routine, even performing surgeries. He pleaded ignorance about his wife’s whereabouts, and then lied and said that she had run off with a boyfriend. Story continues below advertisement “She did what she was legally entitled to do,” Justice McMahon said Thursday. “She took steps in the legal process to end an unhappy marriage. Women, or men, have the right to end a relationship without having to fear abuse – or as in this case, even death, by deciding to leave.” Family, friends of murdered physician Dr. Fric-Shamji express grief at husband’s sentencing Research has shown that the days around a partner’s decision to leave are some of the most dangerous in an abusive relationship. Between 2003 and 2016, Ontario’s Domestic Violence Death Review Committee reviewed 289 cases of domestic homicide and homicide-suicide involving 410 deaths. In 67 per cent of those cases, the couple had separated or were in the process of separating. Dr. Shamji was initially charged with first-degree murder in his wife’s death, but he pleaded guilty on the eve of his trial last month to the lesser charge of second-degree murder. It was a bittersweet resolution for Dr. Fric-Shamji’s family. Significantly, it spared her oldest daughter – a key witness in the case – from having to testify about what she saw the night her mother was killed. The then-11-year-old awoke that night to the sounds of banging and her mother’s screams in her parents’ bedroom. When she went to investigate, her father ordered her back to bed. The next morning, her mother was gone. A second-degree murder conviction carries a mandatory life sentence, and Justice McMahon’s job Thursday was to determine what length of time – between 10 and 25 years – that the 43-year-old should serve before being eligible to apply for parole. He ultimately ruled that a mid-range period of parole ineligibility of 14 years – which had been jointly proposed by both prosecution and defence – “reflects the gravity of the violence in a domestic murder, but also acknowledges the remorse and guilty plea and the positive antecedents of the accused.” Dr. Shamji’s parents, who were in court Thursday, have said they will stand by him through his rehabilitation. Patients had also written letters of support, praising his professional accomplishments. Story continues below advertisement “It’s a difficult juxtaposition of saving their lives and taking his wife’s life,” Justice McMahon noted. Friends and family have described Dr. Fric-Shamji as a devoted mother, a well-respected family doctor, and a rising star in the public-policy field. Surrounded by supporters outside the courthouse Thursday, her mother, Ana Fric, spoke at length about the domestic violence her daughter had endured for 12 years before she was killed. The couple had appeared on social media to live an idealistic life – complete with marathon runs and glamorous vacations and ambitious careers. But in reality, their marriage had been “volatile and dysfunctional,” marred by escalating abuse. Ms. Fric said she had repeatedly encouraged her daughter to leave. “Each time,” Ms. Fric recalled, “she would say ‘Mom do we have to go through this again?’ It was clear that she continued to hope things would improve.” In the months leading up to her murder, Dr. Fric-Shamji had twice been persuaded by her husband to give him a second chance. When she tried to end it for good, she was killed. Now, her mother asks that “Elana’s memory [be] kept alive, in the hope that other women can be saved from such a horrible fate.” “Elana died in her home that she shared with her sleeping children and the accused,” Justice McMahon said. “This is the place that a person should feel the safest. Sadly, this is the place where she lost her life.”<doc-sep>
Relatives of a Toronto woman murdered by her husband expressed heartbreak and rage Wednesday, telling a court her death had shattered their family. Their emotional statements came at the sentencing hearing for neurosurgeon Mohammed Shamji, 43, who pleaded guilty in April to second-degree murder in the death of 40-year-old Elana Fric, a well-respected family physician. "He has destroyed all of our lives," the victim's mother, Ana Fric, told the court. "Elana was the child that every parent could hope for." Shamji brutally attacked Fric, his wife of 12 years, in their family home two days after she served him with divorce papers, according to an agreed statement of facts. Court heard in April that the prominent Toronto neurosurgeon repeatedly beat Fric on the night of her murder, breaking her neck and ribs before choking her to death as their three young children slept. Ana Fric said she and her husband are now raising the couple's children. "Instead of playing with their mother, they have to lay flowers on her grave," a teary Fric told the court. "I thank God every day for the children. They are the only things that keep me alive." 'Stolen from her family' Family, friends, colleagues and others affected by Shamji's actions also delivered victim impact statements before the judge hands down a sentence. Fric's sister gave a statement while staring at Shamji, who was dressed in a blue suit as he sat in the prisoner's box. "Elana was stolen from her family, her friends, her children, her patients, her colleagues, but, most importantly, her three children," said Carolin Lekic. "The wrong life was taken." Fric's father, Joe Fric, described the sorrow and pain he's endured since the day he had to identify his daughter's body at the morgue. "Going to identify my daughter will haunt me forever," he said through tears. "No parent should ever have to do that." Dr. Elana Fric-Shamji was a family doctor in Scarborough and a mother of three when she was killed. She and Shamji met while attending medical school in Ottawa and married in 2004. (Twitter) Shamji's defence lawyer, meanwhile, said about 14 letters had been filed with the court in support of his client. "This is a terrible tragedy," said Liam O'Connor. He said Shamji had a sterling career, coming out of high school with Ontario's top average. Shamji eventually went to medical school at Queen's University in Kingston, Ont., where he won the class's gold medal. He has performed more than 1,000 surgeries, and hundreds of them were "life-saving," the lawyer said. "He has three wonderful children he loves dearly," he said. "Sadly, and unfortunately, this crime is what now defines him." Shamji addressed the court, saying he had betrayed his family. "Your honour, I killed my wife. She was my friend and the mother of our children," he said. "That night, I should have killed myself and not Elana." Mohammed Shamji addressed the court after an emotional day of victim impact statements on Wednesday. On Thursday, he received a life term with no chance of parole chance for 14 years in the second-degree murder of his wife. (Pam Davies/CBC) 'Adored by patients' Colleagues say Fric was a vibrant, dedicated family physician at the Scarborough Hospital who juggled roles as an assistant professor of medicine at the University of Toronto and as a member of the health policy committee at the Ontario Medical Association. She was "adored by patients" and was an avid runner who tried to be the "perfect wife and mother," Toronto physician Dr. Allyson Koffman said. Fric's body was found on Dec. 1, 2016, in a suitcase near an underpass in Vaughan, Ont., approximately 35 kilometres north of the city. Shamji had placed the suitcase in a vehicle and disposed of it in the Humber River. Fric was found to have died from strangulation and blunt-force trauma. Court heard the couple's marriage was volatile and included both physical and verbal abuse of Fric by her husband. Shamji was arrested at a coffee shop in Mississauga, west of the city, the following day. He has been in custody at a Toronto-area detention centre since his arrest nearly two and a half years ago. Second-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence but a judge may set parole eligibility at a point between 10 and 25 years. Crown prosecutors and Shamji's defence lawyers put forward a joint sentencing submission on Wednesday calling for Shamji to be eligible for parole after 14 years.