It was ‘an attempted honour killing,’ court told

A Sri Lankan born Canadian father’s attempt to drive over his daughter, her boyfriend and his son-in-law was “akin to an attempted honour killing,” a Crown attorney said Monday.

 

Prosecutor Eadit Rokach is seeking a six-year prison term for Selvanayagam Selladurai, who pleaded guilty last month to three counts of aggravated assault using his mini-van for the June 1, 2007, incident near Stephen Leacock Collegiate.

 

Rokach said the 46-year-old father of six disapproved of his daughter’s boyfriend, because he came from a lower caste in their native Sri Lanka. Selladurai was initially charged with attempted murder and other related offences but pleaded guilty to the lesser offence.

 

Justice John McMahon will sentence him Tuesday.

 

“This is akin to an attempted honour killing, although it’s not attempted murder because it is a guilty plea to aggravated assault,” said Rokach.

 

“He accelerated his car, drove straight at them and struck all three, dragging his daughter and son-in-law for five metres until the minivan crashed into a fence,” said Rokach.

 

After the accused ran them over, he pursued the boyfriend, threatening to kill him, court heard. The victim, who suffered a sprained ankle, made it to Leacock, where a teacher held off the angry father until paramedics arrived.

 

“He had fears that no one in his community would see his daughter as a viable wife (because of her relationship with the boyfriend),” said Rokach. “That his behaviour was criminal and fuelled by his cultural beliefs is an aggravating factor.”

 

The accused’s daughter Anitha Selvanayagam, 16, left home for three days due to the dispute about the boyfriend.

 

Her older sister Jenitha searched for them and found Anitha, boyfriend Prashanna “Pram” Anadarajah, 18, and brother-in-law Lenin Sandrasingam, 21, in a Birchmount Rd.-Sheppard Ave. E. area strip mall, court heard.

 

Jenitha phoned her father to arrange a reconciliation.

 

Instead of a peaceful meeting, the accused drove his van at the trio.

 

The son-in-law, Lenin, suffered a broken pelvis while the daughter suffered a head cut and shoulder injury.

 

“He just lost it, he came to a point of uncontrollable anger,” said defence lawyer Michael Engel. “But he never intended to hurt his daughter.

 

“His conflict comes from his daughter choosing a non-traditional lifestyle,” Engel said.

 

Selladurai said in court he opposed his daughter’s relationship with the teen because he feared for her safety because of the boyfriend’s violent enemies, not due to a caste difference.

 

A report indicated Selladurai was suffering from a depression since 2006 when his eldest daughter left home to live with her boyfriend in a common-law relationship, which violated the father’s cultural values, Toronto Sun reports.

Related;

Father admits to running over daughter, boyfriend

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