Vancouver man who killed father over Ferrari to spend minimum 10 years in jail

VANCOUVER — A Vancouver man, who at 19 murdered his elderly father as they fought over the son’s theft of $100,000 to purchase a Ferrari, will spend at least the next 10 years in prison.

Alexander Shevalev, now 22, stood at the start of his Friday sentencing hearing in B.C. Supreme Court and apologized to his father, his family and the court, saying he was ashamed and regretful.

“To this day, I know my father loves me and I dearly love him back,” said Shevalev, wearing a greyish-blue suit, crisp white shirt, striped blue tie and stylish glasses.

He said he “knew my father would be very proud of me” for the “rapid phase that I’ve gone through following this catastrophe” — namely, the killing on March 1, 2015, of 80-year-old Vladimir Shevalev in his Coal Harbour condominium.

“Despite that, my father and I had disagreements in the past. I always believed we would be able to resolve our differences. I regret that I took his forgiveness for granted,” he said.

A jury last month found Shevalev guilty of second-degree murder.

On Friday, Justice Catherine Wedge sentenced him to the 10-year minimum sentence before a chance at parole.

Second-degree murder carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison with no parole eligibility of between 10 and 25 years. The Crown had recommended the judge send Shevalev to jail for at least 13 years.

Wedge said that in determining parole eligibility, she took into consideration that Shevalev, who had used cocaine since he was 13, quit using drugs after the murder and has completed two-thirds of a business degree at Trinity Western University with good grades.

She said the sentence needs to denounce the crime and noted that he had lied about the murder consistently to many people and to police. She also said he had been a daily cocaine user and had stolen $37,000 from his father, six weeks before the murder.

The trial heard that Vladimir, a businessman, summoned his son to his apartment March 1, 2015, to demand he return the Ferrari and $100,000 to him.

The Crown’s theory was during the argument, the son choked his father to death from behind and, with a friend’s help, placed the body on his bed to try to make it look like his father had died of natural causes.

The pair then left for a strip club, where Shevalev snorted cocaine.