The mother of a Toronto doctor allegedly murdered by her neurosurgeon husband says the couple’s children “don’t know much” about what happened, only that “mommy is not here.”
Ana Fric, the mother of Dr. Elana Fric-Shamji, attended the latest court appearance of Mohammed Shamji on Thursday along with her husband, Josip.
She told reporters outside the court that Fric-Shamji’s three young children are “doing fine.”
“They miss their mother very much but they’re in school and they’re doing good in school,” she said. “They miss mommy… They miss mommy. They talk about mommy all the time.”
Ana Fric reiterated her intention to attend all the court proceedings to ‘be the voice’ for her daughter.
Josip Fric said he and his wife, who originate from the Windsor-area, are currently living in the family’s North York home with the children.
“We’re still in their house,” Ana Fric said.
“We just want what’s best for the kids, ultimately,” Josip Fric added.
The Fric’s were again wearing purple ribbons to represent domestic violence awareness.
The body of 41-year-old Fric-Shamji was found inside a discarded suitcase on the side of a highway in Kleinburg on Dec. 1.
The cause of death was determined to be strangulation and blunt-force trauma to her head.
Her husband, Mohammed Shamji, was arrested the following day and charged with first-degree murder in connection with the case.
Investigators believe that Fric-Shamji was killed at her home near Bathurst Street and Sheppard Avenue area sometime between the evening of Nov. 30 and the morning of Dec. 1.
Shamji appeared briefly in court via video, dressed in an orange prison jumpsuit, where the case was put over again until March 2.
When asked by a reporter what it was like to see their former son-in-law in court, both Ana and Josip declined to comment.
