The mother of two children drowned by their father in a Laval, Que., home sobbed as she testified about the day they were discovered dead in the family home in October 2022.
“I didn’t know I would never see my kids again,” said Rama Rani Arora, fighting back tears as she testified through a Punjabi interpreter at the courthouse in Laval, Que., north of Montreal.
Kamaljit Arora, 49, has admitted he caused his 13-year-old daughter and 11-year-old son to drown, but pleaded not guilty to the four charges against him including two counts of first-degree murder.
The Crown told the court it will prove that the acts were premeditated.
The identities of the two young victims are subject to a publication ban.
Arora is also accused of attempting to kill his eldest daughter and attempting to strangle his wife.
Rama Rani Arora told the court that her husband suffered from depression in the years leading up to the killings on Oct. 17, 2022.
The jury heard the couple woke up early on that morning to go to their respective jobs.
Rama Rani Arora testified her son usually woke up with her in the wee hours, but on this day both her children dozed, so she didn’t have a chance to speak with them.
Often as she spoke about the children, her testimony turned into tearful wails.
Upon returning from work, she found her husband already home. His clothes were drenched and he was suffering from anxiety over a purported accident at work.
“After a bit, I asked where the kids are,” the wife said. “He (Kamaljit) told me that ‘they’re both fighting and I’ve put them in separate rooms.'”
Eventually the couple left to pick up their elder daughter, 18, at work and returned home.
“Even when we got home my kids didn’t come downstairs and even then I didn’t wonder why my kids didn’t come down stairs to meet me that day,” the mother testified.
Rama Rani Arora asked her daughter to get her father’s anxiety medication from the upstairs bedroom.
“He didn’t want her to go upstairs. I told him: let her go,” she said. “She (my daughter) went upstairs and she screamed,” the mother said.
Rama Rani Arora testified her husband then tried to choke her to prevent her from seeing the bodies. Her daughter had to bite her father’s hand because she could not breathe. Ultimately, she was able to free herself.
The accused then threatened to take pills if anyone called police. The eldest daughter was able to run to a neighbour’s home who called police.
The Crown noted during its opening that Kamaljit Arora had consumed fentanyl.
One of the accused’s defence lawyers, Élise Pinsonnault, cross-examined Rama Rani Arora, focusing on Kamaljit Arora’s struggles with depression over the years. This included questions about how she accompanied him for frequent doctor visits and a few hospitalizations.
The cross-examination will continue Friday.
The trial heard the couple came to Canada from India in June 2015 in search of a better life for their children.
The jury trial is being presided over by Quebec Superior Court Justice Alexandre Bien-Aimé and is scheduled to last up to five weeks.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 5, 2026.
Sidhartha Banerjee, The Canadian Press
