Convicted killer to face first-degree murder trial, Crown says

He has already been convicted of one organized crime murder in Ontario and sentenced to life in jail.

But Rabih “Robby” Alkhalil will still be prosecuted in B.C. on a first-degree murder charge in another gangland slaying.

B.C. Prosecution Service spokesman Dan McLaughlin confirmed that the Crown intends to proceed with its case against Alkhalil, who is charged with first-degree murder in the 2012 shooting of Sandip Duhre in Vancouver.

“At this point, the B.C. Prosecution Service will be continuing their efforts to prosecute Mr. Alkhalil for offences he is alleged to have committed in B.C.,” Dan McLaughlin said. He said Alkhalil is scheduled to be brought to Vancouver for a court appearance on July 4 in the Duhre case.

Duhre was executed in the lobby of the Sheraton Wall Centre on Jan. 17, 2012 after months of conflict between his group of gangsters and their rivals in the Wolf Pack alliance.

The violence had led to several police warnings to stay away from Duhre and his associates.

Alkhalil, 30, grew up in B.C. before relocating to Ontario after the murder of two of his brothers in B.C.

He is suspected of having paid a hit man named Dean Wiwchar to kill Duhre, although Alkhalil is the only suspect charged so far.

Both Alkhalil and Wiwchar, along with two others, were convicted in Toronto on May 11 of the June 2012 murder in Little Italy of Johnny Raposo. They were sentenced to life in prison with no chance of parole for 25 years.

Murder suspects don’t always have a second prosecution if already convicted and serving a life sentence.

Former B.C. Attorney-General Wally Oppal said that in B.C., prosecutions only proceed when there is a substantial likelihood of conviction and when it is in the public interest to do so.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Gregory Bowden noted that Vancouver Police had linked a getaway car used in the Duhre hit to Wiwchar and that witnesses described the shooter.

Also, police had an informant who said someone named Alkhalil had paid Wiwchar. Investigators later found $140,000 in Wiwchar’s safe deposit box, Bowden noted.