Laval Mother's Heartbreaking Testimony Reveals Husband's Attempt to Conceal Children's Deaths
In a Laval courtroom filled with palpable tension, Rama Rani Arora delivered emotional testimony this week about the horrific discovery of her two youngest children's bodies, allegedly at the hands of her husband. The 49-year-old Kamaljit Arora stands accused of first-degree murder in the 2022 deaths of their 11-year-old son and 13-year-old daughter, with additional charges including plotting the attempted murder of their eldest daughter and assaulting his wife through strangulation.
Disturbing Details Emerge During Second Day of Testimony
Through tears and with assistance from a Punjabi translator, Rani Arora described returning home from work on October 17, 2022, to find her husband's clothing completely soaked. She testified that she immediately felt concern because Arora's cell phone had placed him at his workplace earlier that day, and his car was notably absent from their Ste-Dorothée district home.
The family had established a practice of monitoring Arora's location through cell phones due to the severity of his documented depression and anxiety symptoms, which the witness described as having significant ups and downs between 2020 and the tragic day in question.
A Mother's Unfolding Nightmare
"He was full of anxiety. I don't remember asking myself where my children were," Rani Arora recounted through sobs during prosecutor Claudia Carbonneau's questioning. When she eventually inquired about their whereabouts, her husband claimed the children had been fighting and that he had placed them in separate rooms upstairs.
The testimony revealed a series of disturbing events:
- Arora complained of an upset stomach, prompting his wife to search for clear soda in their basement refrigerator
- When none was found, the couple picked up their eldest daughter Jasmine from work and purchased soda at a pharmacy
- Throughout this errand, Rani Arora noted her husband appeared "very disturbed" with escalating anxiety
- Upon returning home, the two younger children again failed to appear
The Tragic Discovery
The situation reached its devastating climax when Jasmine went upstairs to retrieve her father's anxiety medication. Rani Arora testified that her husband attempted to physically prevent their daughter from ascending by clutching her clothing.
"I said: 'She's just trying to get your medication,'" the mother recalled. "(Jasmine) went upstairs and she screamed."
What followed was a parent's worst nightmare. Rani Arora rushed upstairs to find her younger daughter "lying on the floor" and "foaming at the mouth" with water on the floor. She testified that her husband placed his hand over her mouth as she screamed, requiring her to instruct Jasmine to bite his hand so she could breathe.
The horror continued as she discovered her son in another room. "(My son) was on the floor," she stated, followed by a prolonged pause. "He was lying on the floor. I shook his mouth. I pressed (on his cheek). Water came out of his mouth."
Final Morning with Her Children
Earlier in her testimony, Rani Arora described checking on both children before leaving for work that fateful morning. Her son typically rose early to bid her farewell, but on that day he remained asleep. Her younger daughter was also sleeping when she checked.
"I didn't know I would never see them again," she told the jury, encapsulating the unimaginable loss that has brought this Laval family to the center of a Quebec courtroom.
The trial has heard admissions from the accused regarding how the two children died by drowning, with Arora acknowledging he caused their deaths. A publication ban protects the names of the murder victims as the legal proceedings continue to unfold in Laval's courthouse.
