Mohammad Shafia says it is an "impossible" claim to suggest that he would kill his own daughters in order to maintain his family honour, especially when murder is not permitted by his religion.

"I'm not a killer," Shafia said, his voice growing in volume, while testifying Friday in Kingston, Ont.

Assistant Crown attorney Laurie Lacelle questioned Shafia about statements he made on wiretaps about the importance of honour such as "Nothing is more dear to me than my honour" and "There's no value of life without honour."

Shafia said honour was important to him, but not important enough to drive him to kill.

"My honour is important for me, but...to kill someone you can't regain your reputation and honour," Shafia responded. "Respected lady, you should know that. In our culture, in our religion, if someone kills his wife or daughter, there is no honourless person more than that."

Shafia is accused of killing three of his children -- 19-year-old Zainab, 17-year-old Sahar and 13-year-old Geeti -- and Rona Mohammad, a woman who was one of two wives in his polygamous household.

The Crown says Shafia's anger about his oldest two daughters having boyfriends drove him to murder.

He responded that his daughters were dishonourable, but killing them wouldn't have changed that.

"That thing doesn't restore honour," he said through an interpreter. "Can you tell me in which religion you kill someone and then that person gains honour? I don't call that honour."

The bodies of the Shafia sisters and their father's first wife were found inside a car that was pulled out of the Rideau Canal two years ago. When police started investigating, they quickly zeroed in on members of the Shafia family as suspects.

Eventually, Shafia; his second wife, Tooba Mohammad Yahya; and their adult son, Hamed, were each charged with four counts of first-degree murder.

Friday marked the second straight day that Shafia testified in his own defence in the courtroom.

Lacelle questioned Shafia about his actions after his daughters were last seen alive.

Lacelle wanted to know why Shafia only tried to call his daughters once when he discovered they were missing, and why he did not seek any information from the manager at the Kingston-area motel where the family was staying.

Shafia said he did not speak English well enough to go to the motel manager for help and he did not want to wake up other family members in the motel.

To date, Shafia and his co-accused family members have claimed that the deaths of the four women were some sort of tragic accident and not a mass homicide.

But the Crown alleges that the women died so that Shafia and his co-accused could maintain their family honour.

On Friday, Shafia said the Qur'an does not give permission to kill people, so he and his family would therefore not have given themselves permission to do that.

"Never, respected lady, we never allow ourselves to do that," Shafia said through a court translator.

"Tooba is a mom…How is it possible that someone will do that to his or her children?"

Lacelle suggested Shafia might do so if he thought his daughters were "whores," a term he was heard using on a wiretap recording in reference to his dead children.

In response, Shafia said that term referred only to two of his daughters. The other two victims were innocent, he said.

"Nothing can cause this, that a person…do such a terrible and heinous thing," Shafia said. "It's impossible."

With files from The Canadian Press