Kidnapping victim denies knowing one of accused during cross-examination

A trial began Monday for one of the men accused in the kidnapping and beating of a prominent local businessman.

Raheel Ghias Khalon, 31, and David Chipere, 46, each face a string of charges related to the alleged kidnapping and beating of Alex Davidoff in July 2013.

Davidoff, who owned a jewelry company and was leading the development of a Glenora condo project at the time, was missing for about 36 hours until he was discovered in a Sherwood Park home by police.

Chipere pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful confinement Monday, and will be back in court in November to schedule a sentencing hearing.

Khalon pleaded not guilty to charges of kidnapping, extortion and unlawful confinement.

Davidoff, 66, testified Monday he was alone in his office at the Glenora Skyline development site near 142 Street and Stony Plain Road, waiting to meet with a potential investor. A different man showed up and told him the investor was still en route, he said.

As the two men sat in Davidoff ’s office, he suddenly saw the younger man’s body “flash,” then felt a sharp pain in his head. He said he was choked, and the next thing he knew, he was in what he thought was a moving car — blindfolded and bound at the wrists.

During the hours that followed, Davidoff said he passed in and out of consciousness, waking to find himself in a bathtub. A few times, he was dragged into another room where voices asked him for varying amounts of money.

When he was lucid, he thought about trying to escape.

“I thought they were going to kill me,” Davidoff told Crown prosecutor Kevin Mark.

He testified he still suffers pain and never fully recovered from his injuries.

During cross-examination, Davidoff told court that a few months before he was taken, Khalon showed up at his office one day “out of the blue,” but Davidoff insisted they had never met before that.

Defence lawyer Brian Beresh asked Davidoff if the Glenora Skyline project was having financial troubles at the time.

Beresh also asked a long series of questions about prior communications with Khalon, including if Davidoff had ever hired Khalon as an accountant, if they’d ever travelled together and if Davidoff had ever asked the accused to sell drugs for him. “I never met this person in my life,” Davidoff repeated several times.