An ex-United Nations gangster testifying at the Cory Vallee murder trial said he is confident the person seen on a video near the fatal shooting of an innocent stereo installer is the accused killer.
The man, who can only be identified as D due to a sweeping publication ban, said he would be willing to bet that one of the men he identified on the May 9, 2008 video at a Burnaby McDonald’s restaurant is Vallee.
FILE PHOTO Integrated Homicide Investigation Team media briefing in Surrey, B.C., Friday February 13, 2009. Copy shot of Porsche Cayenne that the victim, Jonathan Barber was in when he was shot and killed.
During cross-examination in B.C. Supreme Court Monday, D was shown a videotaped statement he made to police several years ago as he watched the surveillance video from the McDonald’s.
“It looks to me like this guy right here is Frankie,” he said to the officer at the time, using one of Vallee’s nicknames. “If I was a betting man and I am, I would be willing to place a bet that that’s Frankie.”
Vallee defence lawyer Eric Gottardi grilled D about how he could have concluded the grainy image was Vallee.
D said there were a number of reasons why he thought the video showed Vallee, who he testified earlier was a hitman hired by the UN gang to help hunt the Bacon brothers and their Red Scorpion associates.
“The thing that stuck out to me the most — talking about the demeanour briefly — is the way that he was walking. It just jives, if you will, with the way I knew Frankie to walk,” D said.
And D told Justice Janice Dillon that the video image had the same body shape as Vallee as well as his “funny-looking ears.”
“More importantly, the body type matches. He is about the same size as I knew Frankie to be. It is the ear that did it for me,” D testified.
Gottardi asked D if he was confident enough to bet the final instalment of the $300,000 he was paid by the RCMP for agreeing to testify against his former gang.
“Would you bet the $50,000 you just received from the police?” Gottardi asked.
D’s reply sparked laughter in the courtroom.
“Talking hypotheticals, I would bet $50,000 of your money,” he said.
Vallee is charged with conspiracy to kill the Bacon brothers and their Red Scorpion associates over several months in 2008 and 2009. During the hunt, stereo installer Jonathan Barber was gunned down in Burnaby on May 9, 2008 after he was mistaken for one of the Bacons.
Related
Vallee is also charged with first-degree murder for the fatal shooting of Bacon pal Kevin LeClair outside a Langley strip mall on February 6, 2009.
FILE PHOTO Jonathan Barber, 23, of Langley , shot and killed in Burnaby while working on a vehicle belonging to one of the Bacon brothers.
D testified Monday that several UN gang members, including himself, had secret compartments, known as “spots,” installed in their vehicles.
But he told Gottardi that he didn’t believe Vallee and his alleged accomplice Jesse Adkins had one in the dark blue minivan they were driving around the time of the LeClair murder.
“I had no reason to believe they had a secret compartment. I would be surprised to find out that they did,” D testified.
Responded Gottardi: “You would be surprised if the hired hitman had a secret compartment in his vehicle?”
Cory Vallee
“Yes sir,” D answered.
D is expected to finish his testimony Tuesday after two weeks on the stand.
The next witness scheduled to testify is also a former UN gangster whose identity will also be covered by the ban.
The trial continues.
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