Mohammad Shafia, centre, Tooba Yahya, right, and Hamed Shafia, left, arrive at the Frontenac County courthouse in Kingston, Ont., Sunday, January 29, 2012.. (Graham Hughes/Canadian Press) Mohammad Shafia, his wife Tooba Yahya and their son Hamed were convicted Sunday of first-degree murder in the deaths of four family members whose bodies were found in a car at the bottom of the Rideau Canal in 2009.

"It is difficult to conceive of a more despicable, more heinous crime," Justice Robert Maranger said.

"The apparent reason behind these cold-blooded, shameful murders was that the four completely innocent victims offended your completely twisted concept of honour ... that has absolutely no place in any civilized society."

The three were each handed an automatic life sentence with no chance of parole for 25 years.

They had pleaded not guilty to killing Mohammad Shafia's three daughters and childless first wife.

The bodies of Zainab, 19, Sahar, 17, and Geeti Shafia, 13, along with Rona Mohammad Amir, 50, were found dead in the family's Nissan.

Outside the court house, the chief prosecutor Gerard Laarhuis said, "This is a good day for Canadian justice," adding that the four were "murdered by their family in the most troubling of circumstances."

"This verdict sends a very clear message about our Canadian values and core principles in a free, democratic society that all Canadians enjoy and even visitors to Canada enjoy," he said.

Patrick McCann, Hamed's lawyer, told The Canadian Press his client will appeal and that it was likely his parents would as well.

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