Davidoff recalls ‘darkest’ day of his life
An Edmonton businessman told court Tuesday that being abducted and beaten by a group of assailants in 2013 ruined him physically, emotionally and financially.
Alex Davidoff read a lengthy victim impact statement at a sentencing hearing for Raheel Ghias Khalon, who was convicted in the kidnapping case in late 2017.
“This was the darkest and most devastating day of my life,” Davidoff told the court, at times wiping away tears.
Davidoff described the long-lasting physical injuries he suffered in the attack, and said his inability to communicate with financiers who considered him a “high-risk” client after he was abducted led to the failure of the Glenora Skyline condo project — a development in which he said he invested everything.
The project stalled in 2014, before it was taken over by a different development company.
At times, Davidoff began reading parts of his statement that had been redacted before the hearing, such as reiterating his trial testimony that he’d never seen Khalon before in his life.
“I don’t know why he did it to me,” Davidoff said before counsel interrupted and the judge instructed him to stick to the approved statement before the court.
During the trial, Davidoff testified he was alone in his office at the Glenora Skyline condo project at 142 Street and Stony Plain Road on July 21, 2013, waiting to meet a potential investor, when a man came in, hit him over the head and choked him.
He went in and out of consciousness as he was put in the back of a car and driven to a home, where he was placed in a bathtub.
The assailants put duct tape around his neck and demanded varying amounts of money, he testified.
Meanwhile, a police investigation led officers to arrest Khalon and Khalon’s mother.
The mother told police they would find Davidoff in the basement bathroom of her Sherwood Park property, and that another suspect, David Chipere, would also be in the house.
Chipere pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful confinement in October 2017, and was handed a sentence that amounted to time already served.
A third, unidentified man was never arrested.
Khalon’s mother, who was also charged in the crime, gave a statement to police the Crown relied on during the trial.
The woman has yet to be tried, as she fled to Pakistan following her arrest, court heard.
Crown prosecutor Kevin Mark asked Court of Queen’s Bench Justice Debra Yungwirth to sentence Khalon to 15 years in prison, noting kidnapping and demanding ransom is among the most serious offences under the Criminal Code.
But Khalon’s lawyer, Kathryn Quinlan, argued her client should receive a sentence of eight years because the nature of his involvement isn’t clear.
She also urged the court to give Khalon credit for 71/2 months already spent in custody.
Yungwirth is expected to deliver her sentencing decision Wednesday.