BC court gives back senior's home after abuser took over finances
A BC Supreme Court judge restored an 88-year-old woman’s sole ownership of her home after her abuser manipulated her into listing him as a joint tenant.
The Metro Vancouver woman now resides in a care home due to her advancing dementia, but her son saw the court case through. The decision posted online this week said the abuser preyed on the senior’s loneliness and vulnerability, eventually isolating her from family and friends and gaining complete control of her finances.
The court named Zoltan Vimhel, who sometimes went by Steven Vimhel as the abuser. He’s 15 years younger than the woman, and when they met in 2013, he was living out of a vehicle. Their relationship began as a friendship but later turned romantic and then physically, mentally, and financially abusive.
The judge wrote that Vimhel gradually began to exert control over all aspects of the senior’s life. He successfully isolated her from her family by forcibly cutting off communication with them, including blocking their numbers from her devices, impersonating her to send relatives cruel messages, and falsely telling RCMP that her family members were harassing her.
The abuser installed a double-sided lock and security cameras in her North Vancouver home so she couldn’t leave without him.
The woman “wanted to have contact with her family and friends, but she followed his instructions to not contact them because she was afraid that he would hurt her if she disobeyed,” the decision reads. “She stopped attending church and all social events. She stopped hosting potluck dinners. Her world had collapsed to revolve around one person: the defendant.”
Her children never stopped trying to get back in touch with her. Once, her son bumped into her at the grocery store. But Vimhel “pushed [the son] away” and “roughly grabbed” the woman to prevent them from speaking.
“He was yelling loudly, which attracted security guards, and ultimately police were called,” the decision reads. “This was one of the last times he saw his mother until her rescue in 2020.”
By the end of the seven-year-long abusive relationship, Vimhel had moved the woman into a motel in Surrey. She was not allowed to leave without him and was forbidden from talking to anyone else. It had no cooking facilities, and she relied on him to bring her food.
The woman “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,” the decision reads. “Her children went to police to obtain help for their mother on more than one occasion over the following years, but to no avail.”
The abuser also drained her considerable savings and sold her vacation home on Vancouver Island, placing the $515,000 in a joint account that was later emptied. He also forced her to make him a joint owner of her North Vancouver home.
Her family was able to rescue her in 2020. They saw the opportunity when the motel underwent renovations. Her daughter enlisted help from the senior’s grandson, construction workers, and police.
The grandson knocked on the door and asked the senior to go for coffee, which angered Vimhel. He tried to pull the senior back into the room.
Police intervened, and the senior was able to leave with her grandson. The family brought her to a safe location where the abuser couldn’t find her. She left behind her purse, keys, and wallet. They were never returned.
The woman’s children supported her as she was admitted to hospital and began the legal proceedings after leaving the abusive situation. The children learned all her accounts had been drained, and the abuser was still listed on the title of her North Vancouver home.
When the issue came before a judge this year, the judge sided with the family.
“The defendant engaged in improper conduct that dominated the will of his victim,” the decision reads. “He physically, emotionally and psychologically abused her, using her fear of physical harm and even death at his hand, to dominate her will.”
The judge restored the senior’s sole ownership of the home and awarded the family $50,000 in punitive damages. The abuser hasn’t been heard from in two years.
“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,” the judge wrote. “Mr. Vimhel’s misconduct was so malicious, high-handed and offensive, the court must denounce it in the strongest terms.”