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Toronto neurosurgeon accused of killing his wife was once charged with assaulting her

The Toronto neurosurgeon charged with first-degree murder in his wife's death was also charged with threatening to kill her in 2005.

Dr. Mohammed Shamji was charged with one count of assault and two counts of uttering death threats in May 2005, Ottawa provincial court records show. The complainant was Elana Fric-Shamji, according to a police source connected to the current murder investigation in Toronto.

In July 2005, the court dismissed both the peace bond — which would have placed conditions against Shamji to prevent him from being around his wife — and the charges against the surgeon.

The couple, just two years into their marriage, had been living in Ottawa at the time.

Peace bond withdrawn

It's unclear what happened between the couple during the months the charges were laid and they were withdrawn. Ottawa provincial court staff could not provide the exact conditions of the peace bond as some of the case files have been archived.

In 2012, the couple moved to Toronto with their children. Fric-Shamji, a physician at the Scarborough Hospital whose expertise was in medical policy, was found dead in Vaughan, Ont., on Thursday.

Her husband was arrested at a coffee shop Friday. He has been in custody since then and was charged with first-degree murder on Saturday.

The news of both Fric-Shamji's death and of her husband's arrest shocked patients and friends. Photos on social media catalogued family trips and smiling snapshots of the couple.

But the prominent family doctor's sister and colleagues told CBC News that the marriage was in trouble — and that Fric-Shamji had filed for divorce.

"She said she was looking forward to a new beginning," her Ontario Medical Association colleague, Dr. Darren Cargill, recalled in a recent interview.

The couple's three children are in the care of Fric-Shamji's family.