Jurors in Shafia trial end deliberations for the day

Jurors in Kingston, Ont. finished their first full day of deliberations in the Shafia family murder trial on Saturday without reaching a verdict.

The jury deliberated for nine hours on Saturday, and throughout the day, they made no requests for information or clarifications from the judge. The jury will resume its work at 9 a.m. Sunday.

Mohammad Shafia, 58, his wife Tooba Yahya 42, and their son Hamed, 21 were tried for four counts each of first-degree murder. They have pleaded not guilty.

It's been alleged that the trio planned to kill Shafia's daughters Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17 and Geeti, 13, as well as his first wife Rona Amir Mohammad.

The four bodies were found June 30, 2009, in a car submerged at the bottom of the locks of a canal in Kingston, Ont. The Montreal family had stopped in the eastern Ontario city on their way home from a trip to Niagara Falls.

Jurors saw 58 witnesses over the course of the 10-week trial, during which the Crown alleged the deaths were the result of premeditated murder staged to look like an accident.

The Crown has alleged the deaths were an honour killing, asserting that the behaviour of the women had shamed the Shafia family.

Though the accused are on trial for first-degree murder, jurors were told on Friday that they could also find the defendants guilty of second-degree murder, or not guilty.

CTV's Genevieve Beauchemin noted that this is an important point because the Crown has long argued that the murders were deliberate.

A verdict of second-degree murder would not require the same level of premeditation, she said on Saturday.

The Crown argued that the accused pushed the family car into the water -- with the four victims inside -- using a second vehicle. Physical evidence from the accident scene formed the basis for the Crown case, Beauchemin said.

Headlight pieces from the family's second vehicle were discovered on the pavement. As well, there were marks on the submerged vehicle "that leaves them to believe that the car was pushed in, that it didn't just simply fall in on its own as a tragic accident as the defence has been saying," she told CTV News Channel.

"And I think that's a crucial piece of evidence for them."

Meanwhile, the defence argued that the Crown case for murder had a giant hole because "there hasn't been any conclusive evidence put them exactly as to how and where the girls died," Beauchemin said.

The Crown has argued that the women were dead or unconscious when the car went into the water. But Beauchemin noted the Crown never explained precisely what happened to them.

The Shafia trial jury is comprised of seven-women and five men and is tasked with weighing months of evidence including wiretaps and testimony from various people close to the women.

During closing arguments last week, Hamed Shafia's lawyer referred to the Crown's honour killing theory as preposterous.

Patrick McCann told the court that the deaths were a tragic accident witnessed by his client and not planned by any of the three accused.

All three of the accused have told police that Zainab probably borrowed the car keys and went on a joy ride with the other three women. They surmised that the incident likely occurred because the teen was an inexperienced driver.

Later on, however, Hamed told an interpreter who was really a private investigator that he was present when the car entered the canal. He said he followed the car out of concern and rear-ended them near the scene.

Hamed maintains that he ran to the edge of the canal and dangled a rope in the water but there was no response. He says he then drove back home to Montreal without calling police, a point that he's been criticized for.

Meanwhile, both Yahya and Shafia have rebuked the Crown's evidence, saying they would not have killed their own children.