Did He Hurt Her?

"Except for this one incident, he seems to have led a decent life and done as best as he can with his limited abilities.  I don't think [jurors] see him as a malicious figure."
Defence Lawyer Christopher Hicks

Malice?  It seems that during the drawn-out trial there was ample malice described in the treatment of Randjida Khairi by her husband Peer Khairi.  Their long marriage, and their family of six children did not spare her from his miserable anger at life in general and the course of their life since arriving in Canada from their native Afghanistan via India in 2003.

When immigration officers attempt to assess the suitability of adaptation to Canadian values of those wishing to settle in Canada they try to select those who they feel will accept the prevailing cultural code of values in this country.  Clearly, Randjida Khairi did her best to adjust to a new cultural environment, and she encouraged her children to do likewise, rather than inhibit them.

Just as clearly, Peer Khairi was unable, or hugely unwilling, to adapt himself and his expectations to the prevailing culture, one not based on the patriarchal values that demeaned women he was accustomed to.  His stern paterfamilias persona railed against his children adapting themselves to Western culture, and to ordinary Canadian garb.

And he bitterly blamed his wife for permitting their children, four girls and two boys, to transform themselves as they did.  And when his wife too attempted to find a place for herself, he assailed her with countless arguments and incidents of violence.  None of which is unusual, for peoples' tempers fall short and flare and become subdued before another eruption.

Leaving behind one's comfort in the culture most familiar, learning a new language, finding work to sustain a family are all difficult issues confronting most refugees and immigrants, despite assists from charities and government agencies.  The man felt himself to be isolated, but then so did his wife.  She also suffered abuse at his hands; the abuse he suffered was the realization that his children no longer respected but feared the man their father had become.

The compassion one feels for people thrust by fate and incessant wars into such personally destabilizing situations, however, is hugely mitigated by the victimization of seven people by one individual locked in compassion for himself alone.  The bitter accusations and violent misery he meted out to his wife did not endear him to his children.

Tamana Khairi arrived home from her job to find police present in their apartment.  "Do you know why we are here?" asked Toronto Police Sgt. Kathy Velland, taking her aside.
"It's about my mom and dad", Tamana Khairi rfsponded.
"Yes" replied the officer.
"They are fighting a lot", observed the young woman.
"Yes", replied the officer.
"Is my mom OK?" asked Tamana Khairi.
No response.
"That monster said he was going to kill her.  I knew I shouldn't have gone to work ... Did he hurt her?"
No response.
"Did my dad kill my mom?"
"Your mom is dead."

The man who slashed his wife's neck so viciously she was almost decapitated, also plunged a knife into her back, "killing" her twice over.  The verdict was guilty as charged.  He has not yet been sentenced.  Jurors were uncertain about recommendations for parole eligibility; one called for the maximum 25-year-ineligibility period of the life sentence.