Court hears of newly accused’s alleged role in slaying
Ismailaj was referenced by witnesses in first-degree murder trial of Cory Vallee
The latest United Nations gang member accused in the 2009 murder of Red Scorpion Kevin LeClair drove a “blocker” car to help the shooters get away, according to evidence at a related murder trial.
Kreshnik Ismailaj, 37, was arrested in Whitby, Ont. on Friday and charged with one count of first-degree murder.
He made his first appearance in Surrey Provincial Court on Monday and has been remanded in custody until his next appearance on Aug. 13.
While Ismailaj has no criminal record in B.C., he was referenced dozens of times by witnesses at the trial of UN gang hitman Cory Vallee.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Janice Dillon convicted Vallee of the first-degree murder of LeClair on June 1 after four of his former gang-mates turned against him and testified for the prosecution.
Those witnesses, identified only as Witnesses A, B, C and D due to a publication ban, also made references to Ismailaj’s alleged involvement.
According to the testimony, Ismailaj, also known as “Niko” and “Soldier,” was a member of the UN who aided in the hunt for the rival Bacon brothers.
And Ismailaj was at the scene of the LeClair murder on the afternoon of Feb. 6, 2009 in the parking lot of Langley ’s Thunderbird mall, Witnesses B and C testified.
He was also captured on video from a Langley Tim Hortons near the murder scene about 1 p.m. that day meeting Witnesses B, C and Vallee.
The group later “spotted LeClair in his truck and they followed him to where he parked at the Thunderbird Centre and then entered the Browns Socialhouse restaurant,” Dillon said when she convicted Vallee.
The witnesses also identified Ismailaj’s Nissan Murano on surveillance video of the parking lot at the time of the murder and testified that his job was to watch Browns Socialhouse and text the others when he saw LeClair leave the restaurant.
They also told Dillon they went to Ismailaj’s house after the murder, changed clothes there and threw away their cellphones.
Dillon accepted the testimony of Witnesses B and C in convicting Vallee of being one of the gunmen, as well as of conspiring to kill the Bacon brothers and their Red Scorpion associates.
The other shooter identified at the trial, Jesse Adkins, is believed to have been killed in Mexico after fleeing there.
Dillon said Ismailaj, referred to as Kreshnik in her written reasons, was “a probable member of the conspiracy” to kill LeClair.
“Kreshnik had a close relationship with Witness B and Witness C as established in photographs. Kreshnik arrived with Witness B at the Tim Hortons on the day of the LeClair murder and … was part of the planning for that murder and was the driver of the blocker car, the grey Nissan Murano, that was used in the murder,” she said.
A blocker car travels immediately in front of or behind a suspect
Kreshnik arrived with Witness B at the Tim Hortons on the day of the LeClair murder and … was part of the planning for that murder.
vehicle, making it harder for police to track it.
The witnesses in the Vallee trial also claimed Ismailaj dealt drugs with them in Vancouver until they warned Ismailaj in January 2017 that he might get arrested and he fled B.C.
And they claimed he once helped them beat up a man who owed the gang money and left the victim convulsing in a bar bathroom.
Ismailaj was not represented by a lawyer at the Vallee trial. Nor did Vallee’s legal team focus their questions in cross-examination on Ismailaj.
Vallee’s sentencing has been adjourned until Oct. 4. UN gang boss Conor D’Monte is also charged with first-degree murder in LeClair’s slaying and remains a fugitive.