In a case that a B.C. judge says demonstrates “malicious, high-handed and offensive” behaviour, a man has been instructed to pay punitive damages to an elderly woman with dementia and forfeit his stake in her $1.2 million home.
B.C. Supreme Court Justice Sheri Ann Donegan described Zoltan Vimhel as a “predator,” saying his treatment of Judith King was “egregious” in a decision issued last week. She ruled that he must not only lose his stake in the victim’s three-bedroom townhouse but also pay her $50,000.
King, who is now 88 years old and living in a care home, first met Vimhel, also known as Steven Vimhel, 11 years ago.
From the time they met in 2013 until her rescue in 2020, Vimhel “systematically isolated, manipulated, deceived, abused, and exploited” her for his own gain, Donegan wrote in her decision.
In March 2020, Vimhel persuaded King to designate him as a joint tenant of the North Vancouver residence she has owned since 1991, according to court documents. During this time, her savings were cleaned out, including a $465,000 investment account, and she was coerced into selling a Parksville vacation property that had been in her family for many years, the court said. The $515,000 in proceeds were then put into a joint bank account.
“While there is now no prospect Ms. King will recover her health and all of her savings, this litigation aims to give her back her home,” said the judge, noting that when King met Vimhel, he was living in his vehicle.
Vimhel, who is 15 years King’s junior, “concocted poisonous narratives” about King’s family, friends, and even general acquaintances “with the goal of completely isolating” her, according to the court document.
“In short, over a period of several years, Mr. Vimhel used deception, manipulation, isolation, fraud, threats of physical harm and actual physical and psychological harm to gain complete control over Ms. King and all of her financial affairs,” the judge wrote. “Mr. Vimhel’s misconduct toward this highly vulnerable victim was egregious and the negative impact upon her—physically, mentally and financially—was profound.”
Vimhel participated in the preliminary stages of the court process but has since disappeared. Donegan said it has been more than two years since King’s attorney has heard from him, necessitating a trial in absentia.
Background
When King met Vimhel, he described himself as an artist, but he had little to no income, according to the court documents.Prior to their meeting, King was on good terms with her children Georgina King and Owen King, was active in her church, and often hosted friends for potlucks at her home, the court said, while also noting she admitted to being lonely to a friend.
She “was doing well physically, emotionally, socially and financially. She was, however, vulnerable to predators like the defendant,” Donegan said.
Not long after they met, Vimhel began to “exert undue influence and control” over King and began to take over “all aspects of her life.” They were in a romantic relationship within a year and Vimhel began to physically, verbally and mentally abuse her, Donegan said.
King became so afraid of the defendant that “she felt physically unsafe and feared that he would injure her if she did not do as he wanted,” the judge wrote. As time went on, she began to fear for her life and Vimhel used that fear to “coerce and control” her as well as to isolate her from her family and friends, the court said.
Vimhel impersonated King in emails, writing nasty messages to her son and daughter, the court documents said. He also used the courts to get a protection order against her daughter and falsely reported to the RCMP that her family was harassing her, the court added.
“Although Ms. King’s children were confused and distraught over their mother’s change in attitude, they never stopped trying to remain in her life and extricate her from the defendant’s control,” the judge said.
Vimhel then moved King into a motel in Surrey in 2017 without telling anyone where she was, the court said. Her daughter hired a private investigator to track her down.
When they found her in November of 2018, she was living in a room with no cooking facilities and a monthly rent of $3,000.
“During this time, the defendant would not allow Ms. King to leave the motel without him,” the judge wrote. “Ms. King was completely dependent on him for food and shelter. Although she was frightened of him and wanted to end the relationship, she felt trapped and isolated.”
Her children went to the police for help “on more than one occasion” between November of 2018 and 2020, “but to no avail,” the court said.
Rescue
King’s daughter discovered the motel had been sold and that the tenants were being instructed to vacate the premises. She feared that if Vimhel succeeded in relocating King once more, she might never find her mother again, the court said.Georgina phoned her adult son—King’s grandson—on Sept. 7, 2020. He immediately came to the motel and the RCMP were called for help. Georgina and her son knocked on the motel room door and when her grandson asked King to go for coffee, Vimhel tried to pull her back into the room, the court said. Police intervened and King was able to leave with her grandson.
King went to live with Georgina and, in 2021, swore an affidavit detailing the extent of the abuse she suffered, the ruling said. Since then, her dementia has progressed and she no longer recognizes her family. She now lives in a care home on government assistance.
“This predator completely transformed a happy, vibrant and financially secure woman, who had many fulfilling years ahead of her, into a frightened, lonely, and powerless shell of her former self,“ the judge wrote. ”He not only robbed her of her property and her considerable savings: he robbed her of her dignity, the support of her family and friends, and the enjoyment of what has turned out to be the last healthy years of her life.”
