Killer gunned down wrong man due to logbook error

VANCOUVER – The night Raj Soomel was gunned down on Cambie Street, a worker at his Vancouver halfway house mistakenly wrote in a logbook that another resident, convicted kidnapper Randy Naicker, had gone out to the corner store.

Vancouver police said last month they believe Naicker was the intended target of the killers who executed Soomel Sept. 29, but did not explain why they had come to that conclusion.

But two National Parole Board members heard Wednesday about the mistake that might have cost Soomel, another gang-linked parolee, his life.

Naicker, who is seeking to be released on day parole, was in his bedroom when assailants entered the Dick Bell-Irving House looking for him and pistol-whipped a staff member for information.

“He told the intruders that Mr. Naicker went to the store,” Naicker’s case worker Mike Reeves said, adding that he just received the “new information” from the Vancouver police homicide squad this week.

Naicker, who had only been out of jail for five days when Soomel was killed, was returned to jail for his own safety.

He wants back out on day parole, something the Correctional Service of Canada is now opposing.

CSC documents show that Naicker, 32, violated three of his five parole conditions in the short time he was in the halfway house near Cambie and 21st.

He phoned a former gang associate in Alberta, travelled outside of Vancouver twice and made financial transactions – renting cars in Burnaby and Surrey – without alerting a parole officer.

Naicker disputed the police assertion that he was the target, saying he had no enemy who would have waited two years while he was in jail before trying to kill him.

“I just haven’t had those kinds of headaches where someone wants to assassinate you,” Naicker told board members Vicki Cattermole and Pat Pitsula. “The way that it happened, it seemed like it was a targeted incident.”

The board heard that when police searched Naicker’s room at the halfway house after Soomel’s shooting, they found a cellphone registered to a fictitious name and address under the mattress, letters from “known gang members” and a BlackBerry registered in the United States.

Naicker explained every breach as a misunderstanding and said he didn’t notify a parole officer of his activities because Reeves was on vacation and he intended to inform him when they had their first weekly meeting. He was back in jail before the meeting could take place.

Naicker said the cellphone and BlackBerry were given to him by his boss and he had nothing to do with how they were registered.

And he said he only called the gang contact because he heard the person was upset about Vancouver Sun coverage of Naicker’s first parole hearing three months ago.

He said the Sept. 15 front-page story, accompanied by a photo taken three years ago of Naicker with Hells Angel Larry Amero, caused all of his problems during his brief stint on day parole.

“The problem arose from the front-page article in The Vancouver Sun,” Naicker said. “It just shredded all credibility for everything I worked for.”

Board members asked him about a continuing criminal investigation into his finances. Despite being in prison, Naicker bought a south Surrey condo last March for $539,900 – something he didn’t mention at his September hearing.

“Why wasn’t that on the table?” Cattermole asked. “Why didn’t you say that to the board – “˜I have got a considerable amount of money?’”

Naicker said his fiance has been paying the mortgage and that he had money stashed away from the sale of a restaurant he owned before he went to jail.

“There is no hidden agenda here,” Naicker said.

But Cattermole asked Naicker again: “If it is legitimate, why is there concern on the part of the police that there is money laundering?”

About two hours into Wednesday’s hearing at Matsqui institution, Naicker decided to adjourn it for two months so he could prepare a “release plan” to present to the board.

Naicker was convicted of the 2005 kidnapping and unlawful confinement in Surrey of a gangster after $400,000 worth of pot went missing and two gangland associates were murdered.

He was sentenced to five years behind bars, but was eligible for day parole in August 2008 and full parole last February.

Police say Naicker was a leader of the notorious Independent Soldiers gang – something Naicker denies.

He claimed at his earlier parole hearing that he founded a clothing company by the same name, but is not linked to any gang.

He did admit to some gang associations that led to his involvement in the 2005 kidnapping. But he said he had been rehabilitated in his time in prison and wanted to simply work and maintain only “pro-social” associations.