A Toronto man who shot and killed Peter Khan, a stranger whom he robbed of his gold chain, has been sentenced to life in prison with a parole ineligibility period of 18 years.
Jahvon Waldron, 30, was found guilty of second-degree murder on Nov. 6, 2024, after a jury trial. He was handed his sentence by Superior Court Justice Brian O’Marra on Friday.
Waldron was also sentenced to 10 years in prison, to be served concurrently for aggravated assault and robbery for stealing the gold chain and shooting another stranger just minutes later.
Second-degree murder carries an automatic life sentence. The issue O’Marra had to decide was a period of parole ineligibility between 10 and 25 years.
Assistant Crown attorney Paul Kelly made submissions last month that an appropriate period of parole ineligibility would be 20 to 25 years, whereas defence lawyer Brian Crothers said a more appropriate period would be 12 to 15 years.
It was May 7, 2022, when a then 28-year-old Waldron fatally shot 36-year-old Khan outside the Tropical Nights Restaurant and Lounge near Morningside and Sheppard avenues as Khan was walking back to his car in the parking lot.
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Video surveillance shown in court captured Waldron walking up to Khan and yanking his gold chain from his neck before shooting him in the chest.
Waldron, who was wearing a mask, was then seen calmly walking over to another car in the parking lot and grabbing the gold chain of the person sitting in the driver’s seat, whose window was open, before shooting him.
That unsuspecting victim, Dante Roopchand, survived. In his sentencing submissions, Kelly told O’Marra that “it is only by good fortune that he (Roopchand) was not killed.”
During the trial, the victim of a gunpoint robbery for his jewelry at a nearby plaza just an hour-and-a-half before Khan’s murder, testified. Waldron was charged with robbery with a firearm in relation to that incident. Those charges are still before the court.
“The murder of Peter Khan and robbery and shooting of Dante Roopchand were entirely unprovoked. These were not impulsive acts. By all accounts, Peter Khan and Dante Roopchand were fine, decent young men who did nothing to merit the terrible crimes inflicted upon them,” said O’Marra in handing down his sentence.
“This is yet another tragic incident involving the use of firearms in our city and I hope one day it will stop.”
After court, Khan’s widow, who was with her husband at Tropical Nights celebrating her birthday on the night of the fatal shooting, said she feels relieved it is over.
“I’m happy that we got justice for Peter. I’m just a little disheartened with the parole eligibility given the severity of the case and given his criminal background,” she said.
During the sentencing hearing, court heard that Waldon has an unbroken criminal record for robbery, assault, breaches of court order and narcotics trafficking.
Waldron has been given a DNA order, a lifetime weapons ban and a no-contact order with the victims.
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