"Look at them, look at them," Ana Fric said to Mohammed Shamji as he was cuffed. "You son of a *****"
Fric was pointing to Shamji's two daughters seated in the row ahead of her in a Toronto courtroom, after he was sentenced for killing his wife and their mother.
"I said it directly, I hope it's the last time he will see them," the mother of Dr. Elana Fric said outside the courthouse.
Ana Fric, Elana’s mother on Shamji: he was never a husband, never, never a father.”
— Lucas Meyer (@meyer_lucas) May 9, 2019
On her daughter: “She was kind, she was generous.”
On other women in violent relationships: “Leave them. Don’t give them a second chance. Don’t wait.” pic.twitter.com/WQUwYVjEkX
Shamji, the former Toronto neurosurgeon praised for his intellect and life-saving surgical skills, was taken back to prison with a life sentence and no chance of parole for 14 years Thursday.
Last month, Shamji avoided a trial by pleading guilty to second-degree murder for the November 30th, 2016 attack on Fric, hitting and then choking her to death in their Toronto home.
Their oldest daughter went into their bedroom after hearing a loud noise and scream, but Shamji told her to go back to her own room.
He then put the body in a suitcase and dumped it in the Humber River, but it was eventually discovered in Kleinberg on December 1st.
Although he apologized after a number of victim impact statements Wednesday, Ana Fric didn't believe it.
"He did it for himself, only for himself to save himself, he doesn't care for nobody, not for children," she said.
Shamji and Fric had three children, now aged 14, 11 and five, and part of the sentence is not having any contact with them, or Fric's parents Ana and Josip, without their consent.
There were several aggravating factors in the case, including Shamji's treatment of Fric's body, that the murder was of a domestic nature, in the presence of children and that he tried to cover his tracks after killing her.
He even tried planting phone messages in an attempt to frame the man his wife had started seeing, after serving divorce papers two days before the attack.
Fric had tried multiple times to leave him during their 12-year-marriage, after ongoing emotional and physical abuse.
But mitigating factors included his high prospects for rehabilitation, his age of 43, his distinguished medical career and pleading guilty to avoid what would be a gruesome trial.
A trial would've also required his oldest daughter to testify about walking into the bedroom.
Crown Attorney Henry Poon commented on the joint submission with the defence of life with no parole of 14 years, which was accepted by the judge.
"The focus of any responsible resolution in this case, should be squarely on the welfare of the children." he said. "We looked at the case law and simply did what was appropriate in the circumstances."
The murder also rocked Ontario's medical community and several victim impact statements touched on raising awareness and spotting warning signs of violence in relationships.
"How many lives Mo saved in the past, okay, I don't know about that, but I know how many lives he destroyed," Josip Fric said.
Shamji received 14 letters of character Wednesday, including from his family, other doctors and some of the patients he helped.
The defence told the court that all who wrote letters recognized the heinous nature of Shamji's crime, but that there's a belief he can be rehabilitated.
Elana Fric-Shamji/Twitter
However, the Frics see a man who manipulated people, while abusing their daughter for years and when she finally got the courage to leave him, was taken away from her children.
"She was a lovely mother, devoted mother, she was a devoted doctor to her patients," Ana said. "She was the most wonderful person, like I said, that any parent could ever wish for."
She was asked if she had a message for other women in violent relationships.
"Leave them, don't give them a second chance, don't wait, leave, run."