A Mississauga, Ont., man charged with the high-profile kidnapping of a Toronto teen over his half-brother’s drug debt in 2020 has been found guilty.
Superior Court Justice Sandra Nishikawa delivered her verdict to Samir Abdelgadir in a downtown Toronto courtroom on Friday. He attended the hearing via Zoom as he was in hospital.
Abdelgadir was one of five people charged with the kidnapping of a 14-year-old boy on March 4, 2020 – a case that sparked an Amber Alert and captivated the city’s attention until the teen was found in a rural barn 38 hours later.
Abdelgadir was on trial for kidnapping after pleading not guilty following his arrest in May 2020.
“Despite my rejection of certain evidence relied upon by the Crown, I am satisfied Abdelgadir was driving to 345 Driftwood, that he knew SJ (the teen) was going to be kidnapped, stood by and carried out his role,” Nishikawa said.
“Based on the totality of evidence, I find Samir Abdelgadir guilty of kidnapping.”
The teen, whose identity is covered by a publication ban, was abducted around 8:30 a.m. that day outside 345 Driftwood Ave., near Jane Street and Finch Avenue West. Witnesses reported seeing two men grabbing the teen, who was crying out for help, and throwing him into a black Jeep Wrangler.
The teen was driven in the Jeep, in tandem with a black Tahoe and a white Mercedes SUV, to a house on Edgeforest Drive in Brampton, where he was held captive, blindfolded and tied up.
He was found by police roughly 38 hours later in a barn on Heritage Road in Brampton, wearing only underwear and a reflective vest; he did not have shoes on.
In the judge-alone trial, Nishikawa determined in her verdict that Abdelgadir was not one of the two men who was seen on camera physically kidnapping the teen, but that he was in the Tahoe, knew of it and drove in convoy to the home where the boy was kept.
Police would go on to say the teen was kidnapped over his half-brother’s drug debt, and court would hear exactly what unfolded over those 38 hours.
While in the home on Edgeforest Drive, the kidnappers asked for the password to the teen’s phone and how he communicated with his half-brother. He told them he would sometimes use Snapchat.
That afternoon, the teen’s mother woke up from a nap to find three missed calls from the half-brother. She called her son back and he told his mother he had received a message from his younger brother’s Snapchat that said “Give up what you stole, and everything will be ok.”
The mother tried to text the teen but never heard back. She also learned that he had never arrived at school that day. At 5:37 p.m. on March 4, the boy’s father called 911 and told the dispatcher his son had been kidnapped.
When police arrived, the half-brother admitted he owed some people money, about $50,000 in total. The brother would not say why he owed the money, but he stated it wasn’t for drugs or guns. The brother also provided police with two voice messages and two videos he had received that day.
One of the videos showed the teen on the ground with his ankles and wrists bound. On the screen, it said, “Do u want the fingers or to your mom’s house?” The second video showed the teen on the ground with his hands and ankles tied. On the screen, it said, “senor u still laughing?”
At 9:57 p.m., a call was made to 911 regarding a vehicle fire at the Forks of the Credit Provincial Park in nearby Caledon. Just after midnight March 5, the Amber Alert was issued, and the vehicle description in the alert matched the burnt-out vehicle that was found.
In the evening hours of March 5, the teen was undressed and taken to the barn on Heritage Road. The duct tape, ropes and zip ties with the teen’s DNA were left on the floor of the house.
It wouldn’t be until May when Abdelgadir and four other men were arrested and charged. Two of the men would eventually have their kidnapping charges dropped, while another had their charges stayed; another man would also have his charges dropped, though he would end up being murdered in March 2024.
Hamed Shawnawaz was one of the men who pleaded guilty to stealing the Jeep and setting it on fire. He testified against Abdelgadir, his former friend and cellmate, saying Abdelgadir confided in him four days after the abduction.
Abdelgadir gave a statement to police when he was arrested that he had never driven a black Chevy Tahoe nor a white Mercedes SUV.
The Crown argued Abdelgadir was captured by a covert camera being used by the OPP in an unrelated investigation driving the Tahoe on the day of the abduction. The Crown also argued that Abdelgadir was seen driving the Mercedes four days before the kidnapping.
During closing arguments, assistant Crown attorney Erin Pancer also cited evidence given by the teen’s half-brother, who had testified he recognized Abdelgadir’s voice on a call that day.
“He delivered drugs to him two to three times a month, spoke to him on the phone and did it over a nine-month period,” Pancer said, arguing that there is no evidence the half-brother had a reason to lie.
“The Crown’s position was that this was a large undertaking. Samir Abdelgdir is the only person left facing the charge.”
Defence lawyer Manbir Sodhi argued the Crown’s case is full of gaps and there is plenty of reasonable doubt.
Abdelgadir remains out on bail. A pre-sentence report is being ordered, and a sentencing hearing is being scheduled for May.