A preliminary hearing began on Tuesday in the case of three Montrealers charged in the deaths of four family members.
Mohammad Shafia, his wife Tooba Mohammad Yahya, and their son Hamed Shafia were transported under police escort from the Quinte Detention Centre in Kingston, Ontario to the Kingston Courthouse.
The three are accused of killing the couple's three teenaged daughters -- Zainab, Sahari and Geeti -- and Shafia's 50-year-old first wife, Rona Amir Mohammad.
Their bodies were found June 30 in a car submerged in a lock on the Rideau Canal.
The family members were later charged with first-degree murder and conspiracy to commit murder.
Details of testimony under publication ban
After swearing in translators for the three accused -- who speak an Afghan dialect of Farsi -- the crown questioned a Kingston police identification officer about 159 photos taken at various locations in Montreal and the Kingston area.
At one point in the testimony, at least one of the parents sobbed quietly. Though police investigated claims the deaths were so-called honour killings, the crown has yet to spell out any motive or cause of deaths.
In the afternoon, the court heard from a police officer who interrogated Tooba Mohammad Yahya in Farsi, but the details of that and other testimony are under a publication ban.
The mother is the only one of the three accused who had not conceded that there was enough evidence to go to trial.
The defence lawyers said they had not yet received all the evidence but were allowing the preliminary hearing to continue.
The hearing is expected to last at least one month.
