A Quebec man who has admitted to drowning two of his kids in 2022 concluded his testimony at his first-degree homicide trial Tuesday after a number of days of tense of cross-examination.
Kamaljit Arora, 49, was questioned quite a few occasions by the Crown in regards to the search historical past on his cellphone that included searches on varied matters on deadly substances or inflicting loss of life.
Over a number of days of testimony on the Laval, Que., courthouse, Arora ceaselessly mentioned he didn’t keep in mind making a few of these queries — or studying the articles that got here up from them. Among the many matters on the cellphone have been searches about carbon monoxide deaths, drownings, homicides and fentanyl.
“When it’s not in my head, how can I say that it got here from my cellphone?” Arora testified.
For the searches he did keep in mind, he mentioned they have been usually associated to wanting to finish his personal life.
Arora even recommended that the search historical past on his cellphone won’t solely mirror his personal actions, as his son’s gadget was synced together with his cellphone. He additionally advised jurors his spouse would usually use his cellphone.
In a written admission, Arora has admitted to drowning his 11-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter on Oct. 17, 2022. Their names are topic to a publication ban.
However he has pleaded not responsible to 2 counts of first-degree homicide, the tried homicide of his older daughter and the strangulation of his former spouse at their Montreal-area residence.
The Crown intends to show that Arora’s actions have been premeditated, however Arora maintains he had no reminiscence of the occasions as a result of he had tried to kill himself by ingesting fentanyl within the hours earlier than the kids’s deaths. His lawyer has requested the jury to contemplate different elements that might have influenced Arora that day.
The trial has heard that the household arrived in Canada from India in 2015 in quest of a greater life for his or her kids.
Arora had been struggling psychological well being points since about 2020 together with a extreme despair. He had tried or thought of suicide on a number of events.
Within the hours earlier than the killings, he had bought what he thought was fentanyl with the intent of dying by suicide. Arora has mentioned he has no recollection of the remainder of the day after consuming the unlawful medicine.
The accused mentioned he solely remembers waking up handcuffed in hospital just a few weeks after the deaths. Whilst of late 2025, Arora didn’t consider he killed the kids. “I heard plenty of issues however I used to be not accepting it was me,” he advised the jury earlier.
Through the cross-examination, prosecutor Claudia Carbonneau questioned Arora about marital and familial tensions, together with that his spouse had repeatedly demanded a divorce since 2017, which the accused refused as a result of he feared the kids would endure with out him.
The trial additionally heard that his spouse’s household owed Arora greater than $80,000, however the accused insisted he was not indignant in regards to the debt. He complained a couple of member of the family who “destroyed” his household life by meddling and influencing his spouse.
Defence lawyer Elise Pinsonnault has acknowledged beforehand {that a} psychiatrist who handled Arora will testify for the defence.
The jury trial, presided by Superior Court docket Justice Alexandre Bien-Aimé Bastien, resumes on Wednesday.