A Toronto neurosurgeon was sentenced to life in prison on Thursday for strangling his wife after she filed for divorce.
Mohammed Shamji, 43, pleaded guilty last month to second-degree murder in the 2016 death of 40-year-old Elana Fric. According to court testimony, Fric had served her husband with divorce papers two days before he killed her. He broke her neck and ribs before choking her to death as their three children slept nearby.
Fric’s body was found on Dec. 1, 2016, in a suitcase near an underpass approximately 35 kilometers away. The following day, Shamji was arrested at a nearby coffee shop and charged with her murder.
During Thursday’s sentencing hearing, the judge heard testimony that the couple’s marriage had been volatile, and that Shamji was both physically and verbally abusive. Fric’s family told the court that they will forever mourn the loss of the devoted mom and talented doctor.
>>>>> I have a question. If a man breaks a woman’s ribs and neck, and then chokes her to death, how in the dickens is it second-degree murder? Sounds pretty intentional to me. And, with a divorce pending, it also sounds premeditated. Does that make sense?
