Accused killer a ‘quiet, calm guy’
Three women, man found dead in Markham home
A former tenant of the Markham home where four people were found killed says she never would have expected the man charged with the murders to be accused of such a crime.
Ammara Riaz, a basement tenant who moved out of the house on Castlemore Ave. in 2018, confirmed that the people living in the home were Moniruz Zaman, his wife, Momotaz, their daughter, Malesa, and son, Menhaz, as well as a grandmother whose name Riaz didn’t know. Riaz couldn’t confirm the spelling of the names.
York Regional Police have charged Menhaz Zaman, 23, with four counts of first-degree murder after the bodies were found on Sunday afternoon. The police haven’t confirmed the identities of the victims.
“In the morning I was shocked,” Riaz said, adding that she rushed to her former home before heading to work when she first heard the news. She was kept out by police, but she said she had to go there because “I had an emotional attachment to that house and that family.
“At the same time (I) was thinking, oh my god what if I still lived in that place, I could have been one of the victims.”
She said the family “was very good” to her.
Riaz said when she first heard the news, she was convinced the killer must be an outsider because there was no way she thought one of the family members could have committed such an act.
Then she heard Menhaz was accused.
“I was like no, it can’t be. Because I’ve always heard good stuff about him from his parents.”
Riaz said she remembers Momotaz speaking fondly and proudly of her son, expecting him to graduate as an engineer from York University.
“He was such a nice, quiet, calm guy,” she said. “I saw that guy all the time helping his parents.”
She said he often helped bring in groceries and cleared snow off the entrance path for her.
Riaz lived in the home for five years before moving out in March last year when she got married. She connected with the family through the local mosque, Masjid Darul Iman, where they put out a call for a female tenant.
Riaz said Momotaz was a good landlord to her, warning her when she used the electricity excessively but also sharing traditional Bangladeshi foods with her, and chatting with her regularly. She’d sometimes complain her daughter wasn’t paying enough mind to her studies, but she said her son was always excelling, Riaz said.
Property records show that Moniruz Zaman has owned the Markham home since at least 2004. At that time he owned it with a Firoza Begum.
In 2011, the house was transferred from Moniruz and Firoza to Moniruz and Momotaz Begum. In 2017, Momotaz was removed from the title of the house.
On Monday morning, Menhaz Zaman appeared in court in Newmarket and was remanded in custody. He will next appear in court Friday via video.
He was wearing glasses, a black T-shirt and his black hair was short and thick. He appeared calm as he listened to the court proceedings.
The prosecutor read aloud a list of 13 people that Menhaz Zaman is not allowed to contact.
Police had received a call just before 3 p.m. Sunday afternoon “that there were possibly multiple people injured inside the residence,” York Regional Police spokesperson Const. Andy Pattenden said in a news conference Monday.