THE last Crown witness in a murder trial of two men accused of the gruesome killing of a drug dealer testified Thursday that one of the men described how he made the victim kneel in front of a car trunk before chopping his neck with an axe.
The witness - whose identity is protected by a publication ban - said Babak Najafi-Chaghabouri, a man the witness knew as "Tony," described how "him and Kevin and Travis kidnapped somebody and went to Chilliwack to the forest. He took an axe to his head - a hatchet . . . and left his body out there."
Testifying behind a screen, the witness wept at times while giving testimony.
The witness is the last person who will testify in the first-degree murder trial of Najafi-Chaghabouri, of North Vancouver, and Charles Anthony Leslie, who are both on trial before B.C. Supreme Court justice Barry Davies for the murder of Ronak "Ronny" Wagad in February 2009.
Wagad, whose remains were discovered in the bush near Chilliwack on July 8 that year, was hacked to death with a hatchet.
The witness said Najafi-Chaghabouri described how Leslie - who the witness knew as "Kevin" - changed his mind at the last minute and didn't want to go through with the killing. "He just wanted to leave the guy there and go home," the witness said. "Tony said it was too late. They'd gone too far."
Under cross-examination by Leslie's defence lawyer Deanne Gaffar, the witness agreed with statements given to the police a month after the killing about what Najafi-Chaghabouri had said.
"Tony told you he made Ronak kneel in front of the trunk of the car?" asked Gaffar.
"Yes," said the witness.
Gaffar asked the witness to confirm that Nafaji-Chaghabouri said "Kevin" told him not to kill Ronak and was trying to stop him in the moments leading up to the killing. "Yes," said the witness.
"Tony told you he was concerned bout being deported if he didn't kill Ronak," asked Gaffar. "Yes," said the witness.
"You knew Tony was Kurdish," continued Gaffar. "You knew Tony feared being returned to Iraq."
"Tony told you that before he killed Ronak he screamed at Ronak that he, Tony, was Kurdish and nobody f***s with him," said Gaffar.
"Yes," said the witness.
"Tony told you that Kevin refused to look. . . ." said Gaffar. "Tony told you that Kevin responded to Tony by saying, 'Stop. You're going too far.' But Tony refused to stop."
"Yes," said the witness.
"Tony responded to Kevin by saying, 'F*** that. F*** that,'" said Gaffar.
The witnesses testified that Najafi-Chaghabouri described the events of that night about 24 hours after they happened. He repeated the same story three or four times over the next two days, the witness said.
Butcher asked if Najafi-Chaghabouri was using drugs when the conversations took place. "Yes, cocaine and heroin," said the witness.
"Were you using drugs when you heard the conversation?" asked Butcher. "Yes, I was on crack cocaine," said the witness.
Under questioning by Butcher, the witness also described seeing blood on Najafi-Chaghabouri's necklace and being asked by him to clean it.
"Did you clean the necklace as you were asked to do?" asked Butcher.
"No," said the witness. "Tony got angry and started hitting me and took the necklace back."
The witness also testified about helping to destroy ID from Wagad's wallet at the North Vancouver apartment where Najafi-Chaghabouri lived.
"I cut up some things," said the witness, including Wagad's driver's licence and a cellphone SIM card.
The witness described seeing heroin and cocaine that had belonged to Wagad in Najafi-Chaghabouri's apartment.
Najafi-Chaghabouri ran a dial-a-dope business under the name "Tony's Plumbing," said the witness.
Najafi-Chaghabouri was driving a Jeep that belonged to Wagad for several days after the killing, said the witness. After that, "from what I know they either blew it up or put it on fire," said the witness.
The witness said one or two days after Najafi-Chaghabouri described killing Wagad, the witness went to police.
Earlier in the trial, which is taking place without a jury, Travis Winterlik, who was with Leslie and Najafi-Chaghabouri on the night Wagad died, described how the three men ambushed Wagad, shoved him in the trunk of a car and drove him out to Chilliwack, where he was killed. But Winterlik told the judge he didn't see who actually killed Wagad.
Ali Reza Alamdari, a former roommate of Najafi-Chaghabouri in North Vancouver, testified that Najafi-Chaghabouri told him he killed Wagad.
Wagad was killed a week after Najafi-Chaghabouri won the right to stay in Canada after appealing a deportation order before the Immigration and Refugee Board.
The trial continues in B.C. Supreme Court.
