Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - June 14, 1995, Winnipeg, Manitoba Inside Story Winnipeg free press d q june the path that led to dual murders Sureta Singh was bom in crab Wood on March after dropping out of school in Mohamed Ameer Ula Khan tried repairing watches Tor a it was the first of a lifetime of jobs that lasted no More than a few am Khan married and had a he left Guyana when the marriage fell according to Khan arrived in Canada in he later claimed in inter views that his Feibis Shamay Roon joined him shortly friends say that in the mid Khan told them he lived in the Philippines where he mar the woman reportedly died in an Accident and he returned to was found dead in a Freezer in the basement of the Khan a caulking gun and flashlight were found inside the authorities believed Bibi died while repairing cracks on the inside of the her death was called an Accident and cause of death ruled Undener Bibis life was insured for Khan sued to collect the insurance Money and received an out court Settle ment with two he collected Only 55 per cent of the total amount on his at the time of her Bibi had submitted a claim with an insurance company for Back injuries suffered in a car routine toxicology tests revealed prescription but no in her on five Days after meeting a stranger from Winnipeg who was in Guyana attending a married april 1993 the khans arrived in Sureta took out life insurance policies for with Wawanesa life insurance and with London police received a missing persons report from Khan regarding his Khan told police she had been missing for More than 12 he said she had been walking Home from a boxing Day party but never police found Sureta in the Cou Ples Van in the she was rushed to Hospital with frostbite and Skretas body was found in the Bathtub of her Winnipeg Home on the same House in which Bibi was found dead four years in a curious parallel to Bibis Sureta was making a claim with an insurance com Pany for Back injuries sustained in a car police investigating Skretas death reopened Bibis khans Alfred Avenue Home was sealed initial autopsy results didst reveal the cause of Skretas but the medi Cal examiner ruled out drown police said Khan was a suspect in his wife 12 the medical exam Iner rules out accidental death in Skretas 24 toxicology tests were performed on blood taken from the bodies of Bibi and both tests indicated High Levels of police now believed Bibi was subdued with chloroform and placed in the Freezer where she and that Sureta was also chloroformed and put in the Bathtub to make it look like she on police kicked in the front door of khans was arrested in the deaths of his sister and he was charged with two counts of first degree Khan never got a Penny from the insurance companies after Skretas he made no move to sue this May khans Mur Der trial the Crown contended that now killed for Iri insurance but the evidence about chloroform was not used in the trial because it was discovered the majority of Manitoban have it in their bodies because it is produced from the Environ 13 found guilty of two counts of degree life a hazy tale Guyana full of mysterious turns Wypa Uleckie staff reporter Pearl in her a and a mini Market holds a picture of her Sureta Khan almost unknown in guyanese Community by Treena Khan staff reporter Many knew who he but no one really knew say members of Winnipeg guyanese Community about Mohamed Ameer Ula yesterday convicted of killing his wife and he was always talking about his but i never saw him said Pearl who met Khan in de Cember i knew he was a she Sureta seemed the Radiant Bride when she first walked into pearls Selkirk Avenue food store in Early Pearl Khan introduced the two she was such a pretty Long hair and Beautiful you would never have known she came from a poor she Over the next nine the women saw each other seven or eight times in the and at the hindu tem ple on Manitoba where Sureta attended four or five times without her Muslim Pearl but she never really talked to anybody Pearl As soon As it was hed be waiting Only once did Sureta Ever reveal she was anything less than Happy with her new husband and her new coun Pearl she said once that she stand the and i told its Only it int even Winter yet the last time the two women met was in december when Sureta went to the store to pay a three weeks she was and it was Only then through the police and the Media that Skretas family and the guyanese Community in Winnipeg began to learn of the nature of the including an Inci Dent in december 1993 when Sureta was locked out of the couples House and suffered if we had Only we would have taken her we could have taken her away from All said Mother of a 21yearold woman her but the lesson too late for Sureta is enough for her Sis Ter now 21 and i dont want to marry any no foreign she my hand has already been burned chloroform traces investigators later discovered by Kevin Rollason Law courts reporter traces of chloroform As it turned out the blood of his sister and wife were the main reason Mohamed Ameer Ula was charged with their police later determined the chloroform occurred naturally and it was barely mentioned during khans two week a five woman court of Queens Bench jury convicted him yesterday of two counts of first degree the chloroform was found in both but at the time we were not aware its present at that level in most admitted Peter the provinces chief medical chloroform is made in the body when you inhale chlorine we didst know that when he Khan was the ramp crime lab found the chloroform and then the police ran with but then they said earlier in the two week Al most As an the jury was told by an ramp scientist that Chloro form was discovered in the bodies of Bibi the mans 27yearold Sis and Sureta his 21yearold what the jury want told was the chloroform was the Only reason Winnipeg police arrested Khan and charged him with murdering the at the police believed they had the proof they were looking they theorized that Khan had overpowered both women with chloroform to leave one his Bibi to die in a Freezer and the perish in a during the Shirley an ramp said that after further testing it was discovered the chloroform want an Treacy said in an interview that after receiving samples from 20 people who died from known causes randomly selected by the office of the chief medical doing tests on the first the ramp realized chloroform comes from the because five of the bodies had chloroform in we have chlorinated water Treacy your average person is exposed to it by water they drink and by swimming pools you could inhale it or drink a Man of that How one former Friend described Mohamed Ameer Ula who was convicted yesterday of murdering his sister and his and like khans even his friends preferred the shadows refusing comment on the verdict and their former the mystery of Khan is As much his creation As it is a product of a life that took him away from his native Guyana More than those who remembered Khan from his life in Guyana described him As khans school records referred to him As a very rude and inattentive i was rebellious in i always resented authority the Stout Khan told the free press in an unpublished interview conducted at the remand Centre earlier this it had nothing to do with my i was just rebellious because there were certain things in school i didst he dropped out of school and got a Job repairing he was although he referred to it As a common Law relationship in which he had a he said he had an agreement with his that he would try to get into even if he left his family i dont understand Why people would think i abandoned i left her at my mothers not her mothers my daughter was born at my mothers my parents she stayed there throughout the Khan Khan and his wife brother tried to get into Canada for he said his wife and daughter eventually moved to new York and they were married after a Brief stay in new York Khan again tried to get into Khan admitted that he was in Canada illegally on a visitors he received landed immigrant status by marrying another that led to a bigamy charge in that a Long Khan told the free i dont want to get into Khan instead liked to focus on the deaths of his in 1990 and his in he always professed his there is he there is reasonable suspicion because i stand to gain from an insurance but there is absolutely no the Crown successfully argued that Khan murdered his sister for Khan rude student judge saw striking similarities her life insurance policy and his wife for her life insurance he reached an out court settlement with his Sisters insurers and collected 55 per he collected nothing on his if he had been found not i think we would have had a great difficulty denying the Ken Vic president of Wawanesa life insurance said what would prohibit Khan from claiming is not the policy but the provinces insurance you cant receive a Benefit from a he said the company was investigating whether it had to pay the Benefit to Sureta khans but a London life spokeswoman said that company would pay a Benefit to her khans life in Winnipeg is As hazy As the rest of his police reported that he claimed to be a computer though no record of his employment in the Field Khan at various times also claimed to be a the few people who knew him from the time prior to Bibis death up to the time of Skretas death last year refused to comment i just want to be free of this said Joe one of khans old who expressed outrage Over Media coverage of the another acquaintance said she wanted to put everything in the past where it when asked at the remand Centre prior to the trial if he would Ever Khan was confident he would be proven innocent so an Appeal was he was Khan received an automatic life sentence with no Chance of parole for 25 marriage fulfilled Early vow by Treena Khan staff reporter marrying a Man she had met five Days earlier was a risk for Sureta but one she took to fulfil a childhood vow to help her family with and it is that kind of family Obliga Tion that can trap women in abusive relationships they cannot says a University of Manitoba pro Fessor in social if youre from a family with and All youve got is your body and marriage ability Ive seen women often held Ransom said Esther Many such arranged marriages do work she but when there is cultural stigma and family responsibilities May prevent women from seeking for these there is a fear of a fear of losing Community a Community there is a feeling of what leaving a husband could do to a family Back Blum letters from Sureta excerpts front letters written by Sureta Khan to her obtained by the free mom i am telling you this from my i never regret a Sec Ond about my i feel i am the happiness woman in this and i think i will always get that love How Long i from 311 Alfred 1992 about you coming to Canada i told you it would be a snort time that All i can Promise but when you Are Here i can see what i can i can go to the immigration and told them that i need my sister to help me with the House because my husband is while you Are Here i can see about other things for you to stay Pere i can Promise you that you will get one year visa to come june i wish to live Happy with my Hus band for my whole life and so far i live like a and i will not ruin it for everywhere i go people All Over this Palace treat me like everybody say of mrs Khan so and mrs Khan so and try to please me like i am they they beg me to come or to meet people or so because everybody respect and Admire my husband everybody talk about him like he is May Khan i wish to live Happy to Skretas Mother Chittra Wattie her daughters life ended be fore she could realize her childhood dreams of happiness in the Rich first the one Man who promised her that took it All since she was she always said she would like to go across to North Chittra Wattie told the free she also wanted to help us we Are a very poor family but she never got a Chance to work to Send us she never got to have an enjoyable she wanted to help her but her ambition was really for her added pamie Skretas younger looking the Singh say they cant imagine How they could have prevented Skretas her Hus Mohamed Khan convicted yesterday in her murder made it impossible for Sureta to Tell them what was really happening in her new pamie maybe she never realized there was she my sister was very in she was very carried away by this Man who showed her a lot of love and pamie a Pilot counselling project Gin this fall in Winnipeg to help pre vent Domestic violence in Immi Grant communities and to help potential victims like Sureta build their self esteem and their financial and emotional the multicultural partner abuse prevention project will have who speak different languages and Are from different cultural the counsel lors will work with leaders in Immi Grant communities to educate men and women on the of wife abuse and on Canadian there is a lot of even More so in immigrant about the Zero tolerance said Janacek a project coordinator of polish and we have to talk about the eth ical that is that abuse is not a Good v ;