Toronto neurosurgeon who murdered wife to face disciplinary charges

Dr. Mohammed Shamji and Dr. Elana Fric-Shamji are shown in an undated photo.

TORONTO -- A Toronto neurosurgeon who murdered his wife two days after she filed for divorce now faces a disciplinary hearing before Ontario's medical regulator.

The College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario said Mohammed Shamji faces allegations of professional misconduct related to his murder conviction and to previous criminal charges.

In a notice dated last week, the regulator alleges Shamji provided inaccurate information in his application for independent practice in 2012 by failing to disclose criminal charges related to a domestic assault in Ottawa in 2005.

It also alleges Shamji has been found guilty of an offence that is relevant to his suitability to practise.

"Where physicians have breached the public trust, it is our responsibility to apply disciplinary measures that are consistent with the specific issues," a spokesman for the college said in an email.

"This means, in the most significant cases, the physician is not only removed from practice in Ontario but the CPSO also takes steps to ensure that other jurisdictions are aware of the disciplinary findings and associated sanctions."

The college said no date has been set for the disciplinary hearing at this time.

Shamji was sentenced in May to life in prison with no chance of parole for 14 years. He had pleaded guilty a month earlier to second-degree murder in the November 2016 death of 40-year-old Elana Fric Shamji, a well-respected family physician, originally from Tecumseh.

Court heard Fric Shamji served her husband with divorce papers two days before he attacked her, broke her neck and ribs, and choked her to death as their three children slept nearby.

He then stuffed her body into a suitcase, drove 35 kilometres north of the city and dumped it into the Humber River.

Fric Shamji's mother told the court the abuse began early in the couple's relationship, adding she repeatedly begged her daughter to leave Shamji.

The couple separated for a few months after their first child was born, but reconciled after a time, court heard.

Justice John McMahon, who presided over the case, called it another tragic instance of domestic homicide.