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The “destroyed” family of a Brooklyn businessman whose killer spent a decade on the lam following the 2009 slaying finally got justice Thursday — as he was sentenced to 15 years to life behind bars.
Abakar Gadiyev in December copped to robbing and fatally beating supermarket owner and father of four Vladimir Tolstykh, 35, on March 14, 2009.
Gadiyev then fled to Sydney, Australia, where he remained until cops tracked him down and hauled him back to the US in 2019.
In court Thursday, Tolstykh’s widow and children ripped the killer for what he did to them.
“You, Mr. Gadiyev, destroyed me and my family and left us with pain and [a] scar that will last a lifetime so your time in jail should be a lifetime,” widow Rita Tolstykh said at his Brooklyn Supreme Court sentencing.
She told the judge that she was left to care for her four young children — including her daughter, Angelica, who was just 3 weeks old at the time.
She also said she endured many sleepless nights.
“I lived with this fear each and every day while these two men fled [the] United States and went on with their lives,” Rita said, referencing Gadiyev’s alleged accomplice, Arsen Bashirov.
“They tore my life and my kids’ [lives] into pieces. They killed an innocent man, a loving husband, father and an only child to his mother,” Rita said.
Angelica, now 13, said Gadiyev cut her father’s life too short.
“I didn’t get to know my father or have any memories with him because of your actions,” Angelica said.
“We are now growing up and learning that you killed our father and tried to get away with it,” the young girl said. “But you are not getting the easy way out because my dad is always watching over me in heaven and will make sure you get your punishments for what destruction you have caused.”
Tolstykh’s stepson Andrew Sorkin, who was only 8 at the time of the murder, said he’s relieved to put the whole nightmare behind him.
“I’m finally relieved that this is coming to an end after almost 13 years since the murder of my stepdad,” Sorkin said. “I am happy that justice is finally being served. But the pain in our hearts will never fade and the memories of Vlad will never go away.”
The 40-year-old Turkmenistan national sat hunched over in handcuffs when he told the judge, “No words can fix and take away the pain I caused.
“I’m incredibly sorry for what I’ve done and I’m going to have to live with that for the rest of my life.”
Justice Vincent Del Giudice said he hoped the sentence would bring the family a measure of closure.
“There is no sentence I can render in this case that brings the victim back to life,” the judge said. “I can only hope the sentence I will impose will bring about a certain degree of closure.”
“This was a brutal murder, there is no excuse for it.”
Del Giudice handed down the sentence that was agreed upon when Gadiyev took his plea deal in December — 15 years to life for second-degree murder and 15 years for robbery, to run concurrently.
The judge said he agreed to the lighter sentence, given that it would spare the family from having to live through a trial.
Del Giudice also said he hopes that Gadiyev will be deported to his home country upon his release from prison.
Afterward, outside court, Rita told The Post it was “heartbreaking” to be at the sentencing today.
“Justice would have been served if he would have gotten life, but he got 15 years to life, and I don’t think that is justice when you take somebody’s life away,” Rita said.
A spokesperson in the Brooklyn District Attorney’s Office told The Post that Bashirov is believed to be in Turkmenistan — a country that doesn’t have an extradition treaty with the US.
“For nearly 13 years, the family and friends of Vladislav Tolstykh have waited for this defendant to be brought to justice,” Brooklyn DA Eric Gonzalez said in a statement. “Today’s sentence holds him accountable for brutally and ruthlessly beating this innocent shopkeeper to death.”
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