‘I’m guilty in front of my God’: Peer Khairi says he only slit wife’s throat in self defence
Mike Faille/National Post
“I totally lost my control. I was
not able to control myself. I was thinking about killing myself, but not
killing her,” Peer Khairi testified regarding the murder of his wife
Randjida.
TORONTO – Peer Khairi has many
explanations for why he slaughtered his wife, the mother of their six
children, on a late winter’s afternoon four years ago.
She called him “honourless” and a “cuckold,” and he could tolerate such insults no longer, Mr. Khairi told the court Wednesday.
But also, she lunged at him with a knife, leaving him no alternative but to slit her throat and litter her body with stab wounds.
But also, Mr. Khairi, who had struggled for years to contain an unspecified mental illness, went “totally mad” on March 18, 2008 — and does not really know why he butchered Randjida Khairi inside their west-end Toronto apartment.
“I totally lost my control. I was not able to control myself,” Mr. Khairi testified at his second-degree murder trial in Ontario Superior Court, speaking through a Dari interpreter. “I was thinking about killing myself, but not killing her.”
The Crown has a different theory. According to evidence already before the court, Mr. Khairi, 65, grew increasingly frustrated at his family’s behaviour after they immigrated to Canada from Afghanistan, by way of India. His children disregarded Muslim traditions, both through their fashion choices and late-night dates — and the victim not only permitted this, the court heard, but willingly embraced Canadian values.
Before he began testifying, Mr. Khairi did not swear on the Muslim
Koran, but on the Hindu Bhagavad-Gita. In a full day on the stand, he
painted himself in turns as a fearful victim, a maligned husband and a
mentally unstable father of six — but never as a man who killed to
preserve his family’s Muslim honour.
“They are all human beings,” Mr. Khairi said of his two sons and four daughters. “What other human beings were doing, they were just doing the same.”
The children were entitled to wear whatever they chose, “hijab or no hijab,” Mr. Khairi testified. His daughter’s decision to sleep over at her fiancé’s home was not argument fodder, but evidence of a “happy situation.”
In fact, Mr. Khairi said under questioning by defence lawyer Christopher Hicks, his children did not change their behaviour at all after coming to Canada.
“They were not different. … They were busy studying and working and they didn’t have time to do anything else,” he said.
Mr. Khairi was at times animated, gesticulating for emphasis, and at times clinical, explaining grisly details of how he stabbed his 53-year-old wife. He drew his fingers over his throat when describing the gash that killed her — a cut so deep it nearly decapitated her, forensic experts have told the court.
Not so, Mr. Khairi countered.
Yes, he cut her, but “not that much, not as much as the doctor was saying.”
At other times, Mr. Khairi appeared disconsolate, sobbing into his hands and speaking in broken sentences. Like when he spoke of his first wife dying after falling down a set of stairs on laundry day. Or when recounting how his second wife, Randjida Khairi, begged on the streets to support the family in India. Or his last goodbye to his daughter when he dropped her off at school on the day his wife was killed.
“After she got out of the vehicle, she turned to me and said ‘bye-bye’ to me,” Mr. Khairi said, shaking with sobs. “I will never forget this for the rest of my life.”
That day, Mr. Khairi and his wife rehashed the same argument that had plagued their relationship for years. Debt-ridden, suicidal and unable to find work, Mr. Khairi said he had become used to his wife’s contempt.
“Why don’t you go to work? You don’t have honour, go and work,” Ms. Khairi would say, according to the accused’s testimony.
It appears that modus operandi went out the window on March 18, 2008. That day, when Mr. Khairi says his wife lunged at him with a small knife, he did not forgive. Instead, he wrested it from her hand and grabbed a second, longer kitchen knife. He then stabbed her with both until she was dead.
Today, Mr. Khairi says he feels remorse.
“I’m guilty in front of my God. I’m guilty in front of my own children,” he cried, just minutes before jurors were sent home for the day. “I’m guilty in front of my own conscience.”
The trial resumes Thursday.
National Post
She called him “honourless” and a “cuckold,” and he could tolerate such insults no longer, Mr. Khairi told the court Wednesday.
But also, she lunged at him with a knife, leaving him no alternative but to slit her throat and litter her body with stab wounds.
But also, Mr. Khairi, who had struggled for years to contain an unspecified mental illness, went “totally mad” on March 18, 2008 — and does not really know why he butchered Randjida Khairi inside their west-end Toronto apartment.
“I totally lost my control. I was not able to control myself,” Mr. Khairi testified at his second-degree murder trial in Ontario Superior Court, speaking through a Dari interpreter. “I was thinking about killing myself, but not killing her.”
The Crown has a different theory. According to evidence already before the court, Mr. Khairi, 65, grew increasingly frustrated at his family’s behaviour after they immigrated to Canada from Afghanistan, by way of India. His children disregarded Muslim traditions, both through their fashion choices and late-night dates — and the victim not only permitted this, the court heard, but willingly embraced Canadian values.
Court exhibit Peer Khairi testified he didn't care if his daughters wore a hijab or not.
“They are all human beings,” Mr. Khairi said of his two sons and four daughters. “What other human beings were doing, they were just doing the same.”
The children were entitled to wear whatever they chose, “hijab or no hijab,” Mr. Khairi testified. His daughter’s decision to sleep over at her fiancé’s home was not argument fodder, but evidence of a “happy situation.”
In fact, Mr. Khairi said under questioning by defence lawyer Christopher Hicks, his children did not change their behaviour at all after coming to Canada.
“They were not different. … They were busy studying and working and they didn’t have time to do anything else,” he said.
Mr. Khairi was at times animated, gesticulating for emphasis, and at times clinical, explaining grisly details of how he stabbed his 53-year-old wife. He drew his fingers over his throat when describing the gash that killed her — a cut so deep it nearly decapitated her, forensic experts have told the court.
Not so, Mr. Khairi countered.
Yes, he cut her, but “not that much, not as much as the doctor was saying.”
At other times, Mr. Khairi appeared disconsolate, sobbing into his hands and speaking in broken sentences. Like when he spoke of his first wife dying after falling down a set of stairs on laundry day. Or when recounting how his second wife, Randjida Khairi, begged on the streets to support the family in India. Or his last goodbye to his daughter when he dropped her off at school on the day his wife was killed.
“After she got out of the vehicle, she turned to me and said ‘bye-bye’ to me,” Mr. Khairi said, shaking with sobs. “I will never forget this for the rest of my life.”
That day, Mr. Khairi and his wife rehashed the same argument that had plagued their relationship for years. Debt-ridden, suicidal and unable to find work, Mr. Khairi said he had become used to his wife’s contempt.
“Why don’t you go to work? You don’t have honour, go and work,” Ms. Khairi would say, according to the accused’s testimony.
I’m guilty in front of my God. I’m guilty in front of my own children. I’m guilty in front of my own conscienceA scorned and humiliated man, Mr. Khairi said he sometimes cursed at his wife, but also became accustomed to “forgiving a lot,” trying to keep arguments in check so the couple’s six children would not “lose their morale.”
It appears that modus operandi went out the window on March 18, 2008. That day, when Mr. Khairi says his wife lunged at him with a small knife, he did not forgive. Instead, he wrested it from her hand and grabbed a second, longer kitchen knife. He then stabbed her with both until she was dead.
Today, Mr. Khairi says he feels remorse.
“I’m guilty in front of my God. I’m guilty in front of my own children,” he cried, just minutes before jurors were sent home for the day. “I’m guilty in front of my own conscience.”
The trial resumes Thursday.
National Post
Labels: Afghanistan, Canada, Crime, Culture
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