The B.C. Supreme Court trial of one alleged gang member charged with first-degree murder has been separated from that of two others who were being tried with him.
Dean Michael Wiwchar now faces a separate trial on one count of murder in relation to the 2012 slaying of Sandip Duhre, gunned down at the Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre.
Wiwchar was being tried alongside Rabih “Robby” Alkhalil and Hells Angel Larry Amero.
When the jury returned March 9, Justice Miriam Maisonville told them Wiwchar would be tried separately. As a result, Wiwchar was no longer seated in the prisoners' dock with Amero and Alkhalil.
“You do not need to concern yourself with this,” Maisonville told jurors, adding Wiwchar’s separate trial should have no bearing on the consideration of Alkhalil and Amero’s case.
“Mr. Alkhalil and Mr. Amero are considered innocent and Mr. Wiwchar’s absence does not affect this,” the judge said.
The shooting occurred in a busy restaurant occupied by patrons, including the Cuban women’s national soccer team.
“We believe this was a well-planned public execution involving a coordinated and deliberate effort to carry out the murder. We also believe it was a contract killing related to the ongoing Lower Mainland gang conflict,” RCMP Supt. Mike Porteous said in May 2013.
Arrests and extradition
In January 2018, Vancouver police announced the arrest of Amero, and charges of one count of conspiracy to commit the murder of Duhre and one count of conspiracy to commit the murder of Sukhveer Dhak.
Amero was a resident of Ottawa. He was arrested with help from the Ottawa Police Service and the Ontario Provincial Biker Enforcement Unit. He was transported to B.C. to face charges.
Amero was driving his Porsche Cayenne with Lower Mainland gangster Jonathan Bacon in the passenger seat when the latter was killed in a hail of gunfire in Kelowna in 2011.
Wiwchar was initially charged with one count of murder in relation to the murder of Duhre and one count of conspiracy to commit the murder of Dhak.
Alkhalil was extradited from Greece to face charges.
