Man hurt in escape bid gets conditional sentence

Offender,36,sustained a spinal cord injury when he plunged 11 storeys from balcony in Metrotown trying to flee police

CorneliaNaylor cnaylor@burnabynow com

A man who fell from the 11th floor of a Burnaby apartment building during a suspected kidnapping four years ago has been handed a conditional sentence in part because of “life-lasting injuries” he sustained during the fall

“Mr. Abdullahi in his state now will experience incarceration far more harshly than an able-bodied young man,” B C Supreme Court Justice JanetWinteringham said at the sentencing of 36-yearold Abdullah Abdullahi and his co-accused, Abdulkadir Handule, 27, in Vancouver June 13.

The men were found guilty last June of forcible confinement in a suspected kidnapping in July 2019.

On July 4, 2019, tactical officers descended on an 11th-floor apartment at 4960 Sanders St at about 10:20 p m to rescue a man they believed had been kidnapped at the Metrotown mall two days earlier, according to B C Supreme Court documents.

“Many of the residents were frightened by the heavily armed police presence,”Winteringham said “Mr. Handule and Mr. Abdullahi’s conduct had a traumatizing effect on more than (the victim).

Residents have a right to feel safe in their homes, and Mr. Handule and Mr Abdullahi intruded in what should be a sanctuary”

By the time police entered the apartment, the suspects had fled through the balcony door.

Handule, who was 23 at the time, managed to scale down the outside of the building and was arrested on a fifth-floor balcony, with a loaded Glock semi-automatic pistol at

POLICE RESPONSE: HorizonTowersat4960Sanders St inMetrotownwasthesiteofadramaticsuspectedkidnapping inJuly2019

But Abdullahi, who was then 32, fell from the 11th-floor balcony into a rhododendron bush, sustaining “life-lasting” injuries

Because of a spinal cord injury, he now needs a cane, has to wake up every two hours to manage bowel and bladder incontinence, and needs his spouse’s help to shave, shower and dress, according to information presented in court.

He also suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.

“There is no doubt that his injuries are debilitating and lifelong,”Winteringham said

She sentenced Handule six years in prison but handed Abdullahi a twoyear conditional sentence, including a year of house arrest followed by a year under a 9 p.m.-to-5 a.m. curfew, and two years of probation.

For the first 18 months of his sentence, he will have an electronic monitoring bracelet

Besides Abdullahi’s injuries,Winteringham noted he had played a “marginally lesser” role in the offence than Handule, who was more directly linked to a firearm used during the forcible confinement, according to the judge.

Abdullahi has also taken “stronger steps” towards rehabilitation,Winteringham said, and has success- fully lived for four years under the “most stringent” bail conditions house arrest with electronic monitoring.

Handule, meanwhile, is already serving a life sentence with no chance of parole for 20 years for the shooting deaths of Toronto rapper Jahvante Smart (a k a Smoke Dawg) and hip hop brand manager Ernest Modekwe outside the Cube nightclub inToronto’s entertainment district on June 30, 2018

A bystander was also shot in the brazen daylight shooting

Winteringham said those convictions “weigh against” his prospects for rehabilitation

“In sum, the two offenders, while they are convicted for similar conduct, they are ultimately not similarly situated.”

Handule’s six-year sentence will run parallel to his life sentence