More than two years after Elana Fric Shamji was found dead in a suitcase in Vaughan, Ontario, her husband Mohammed Shamji has pleaded guilty to second-degree murder.

Shamji, a former neurosurgeon at Toronto Western Hospital killed his wife, a family doctor at Scarborough Hospital, in November 2016. Her body was found by police in an underpass in Vaughan—she died of strangulation and blunt force trauma. Shamji was charged with first-degree murder and indignity to a dead body and his trial was expected to start this week.

Shamji and Fric Shamji were married for 12 years and had three children. According to the Toronto Star, their oldest daughter was expected to testify at her father’s murder trial.

Shamji was verbally and physically abusive towards his wife over the course of their relationship. He was charged with assaulting and threatening his wife in 2005 but those charges were later withdrawn in exchange for a peace bond, Toronto Life reports.

read in court Monday

The case has highlighted the prevalence of intimate partner violence in Canada. Some of those in court Monday wore purple ribbons to symbolize solidarity with victims of domestic violence.

Shamji is facing an automatic life sentence, with no chance of parole for at least 10 years.

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