Markham family killer Menhaz Zaman bludgeoned all members of his Bangladeshi immigrant family – father, mother, sister and grandmother – as he feared they will soon come to know his lies about graduating soon from York University
The Canadian Bazaar
TORONTO: A 24-year-old Markham man of Bangladeshi origin who wiped out his entire family last year to hide lies about his academic failure will be sentenced later this week.
His sentencing on Monday was postponed due to technical snags in the virtual hearing.
Locked up at Central East Correctional Centre, Menhaz Zaman was arrested for the murders at his family home on Castlemore Avenue on July 27, 2019.
He killed his grandmother Firoza Begum, 70, father Moniruz Zaman, 59, mother Momotaz Zaman, 50, and sister Malesa Zaman, 21, by hitting them on their heads with a crowbar. Once they fell to the ground, he slit their throats.
Zaman eliminated his entire family as they were about to discover that he had lied about graduating in engineering from York University the very next day – on July 28, 2019.
In reality, he had dropped out of the engineering course in the second semester after his failing grades. Fearing his parents’s wrath, he didn’t tell them the truth as they kept hoping for the day when their son will graduate. Indtead, the young man went on to create a web of lies, telling them that he will graduate on July 28, 2019. A day before that, he wiped out his entire family.
As per the statement of facts, Zaman first killed his mother and then grandmother when his father and sister were out on their jobs.
After killing his mother and grandmother, he returned to his computer and typed out into the chat window: “I killed mom and granny so far, waiting for sister in 5 minutes and dad in 1 hour.” Minutes later when his sister, who worked as a cashier at Food Basics, entered home, he hit her on the head with the crowbar and left her to bleed to death. Around mid-night, when his father came and was parking his car in the garage, Zaman bludgeoned him to death.
After the killings, he wrote into the chat window: “I’ve just slaughtered my entire family.” Initially, his online friends thought it was a prank. But when Zaman posted pictures of the bodies, they got scared. He told his online friends that he had been planning the murders for three years when he told his family that he will graduating on July 28, 2019. “I couldn’t have delayed it any longer,” Zaman wrote.
To thank his online friends for standing by him, he offered to send them money from his Paypal account. One online friend tracked Zaman’s home address from his Paypal account and alerted York Police.
As he has pleaded guilty to three counts of first-degree murder and one count of second-degree murder, Zaman faces life in jail, with no parole for 40 years.
