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© CBC News/Alex Tavshunsky
A jury has found Peer Khairi guilty of second-degree murder in the death of his wife.
Canada - A Toronto man who stabbed his wife and slashed her throat four years ago was found guilty of second-degree murder on Sunday.

Peer Khairi, 65, sobbed quietly with his head down when the verdict was read in court, days after the jury first began its deliberations last Thursday.

His wife, Randjida Khairi, died in March 2008. She was 53 years old.

Assistant Crown Attorney Robert Kenny said the jury heard four weeks of evidence during the trial, including three days of testimony from Khairi himself.

"We're very happy with all the hard work that the jury went through and with the way the evidence came out," he told reporters outside court on Sunday.

Kenny credited the investigative work that police did in bringing the case to court.

"They were the ones who actually got the accused to speak the night of the murder and actually got a lot of the details of what had happened...which is what allowed us to take circumstantial evidence and to be able to tell the jury our theory of what had happened," he said.

"And I think by their verdict, they accepted that."

Following the verdict, defence lawyer Christopher Hicks was asked how Khairi reacted to the verdict.

Hicks told CBC News that Khairi is "not happy" and that it was evident that he had reacted "physically and emotionally to the decision."

Looking ahead to the sentencing process, Hicks said it was too soon to say what the defence would be recommending.

"We haven't really thought about what we would say for a sentence in this matter," he said.

During the trial, Khairi had claimed that he killed his wife in self-defence, alleging that she had tried to attack him with a knife.

The Crown argued that Khairi was angry with his wife and children for adopting more Western values after coming to Canada from Afghanistan.

Khairi had not revealed his claim that he was attacked prior to the trial, including when questioned by police.

In court, Khairi said that he had been waiting for his trial to tell the full story.

Source: CBC News