Ethiopian Review

Edmonton, Canada — Friends of a family shattered by a suspected domestic slaying are struggling to understand the troubles that might have lurked inside the couple’s upscale home.

“It’s a mystery,” said Haile Tesfazgi, who knew the couple. “It is very shocking. They were a very good family.”

Tesfai Negasi, 52, was charged with second-degree murder and committing an indignity to a body Monday night after police found his wife slain inside their 7328 164 Ave. home the day prior.

Negasi — who gave himself up to police Sunday night — made his first appearance in court yesterday.

He stood expressionless in the prisoner’s box with his arms folded in front of him as lawyers and a judge decided how the case would proceed.

The accused killer, who is skinny, bald on the top of his head and was wearing blue Edmonton Remand Centre-issued overalls, looked once around the courtroom, but did not speak out.

The Crown requested the case be adjourned for a month so “substantial” disclosure could be sorted out and a duty counsel asked for Negasi to have some time so he could hire a defense lawyer to represent him.

Provincial court Judge Shelagh Creagh put the matter over to Aug. 4, back in the same docket court.

Creagh also ordered Negasi to have no contact with three witnesses, believed to be his children.

An autopsy was performed on wife Selamawit Negasi, 46, on Monday but police have not released the cause of her death.

The situation has left Tesfazgi stunned.

“From the outside everything was so wonderful,” he said. “That was my impression — that they were happy.”

- By MICHELLE THOMPSON AND TONY BLAIS | SUN MEDIA