A witness who testified about being told gruesome details of an axe murder broke down under cross-examination in B.C. Supreme Court Friday, weeping and telling a judge, "I don't want to be here. I didn't want to testify."
On Thursday, the witness - whose identity is protected by a publication ban - testified about how one of the two men accused of murder had described details of the killing.
The witness said Babak Najafi-Chaghabouri - who the witness knew as "Tony" - described how three men, including the two accused, kidnapped a drug dealer and took him out to the forest near Chilliwack. "He took an axe to his head - a hatchet," said the witness ". . . and left his body out there."
The person is the last Crown witness to testify in the first-degree murder trial of Najafi-Chaghabouri, of North Vancouver, and Charles Anthony Leslie, who are both accused of murdering Ronak "Ronny" Wagad in February 2009.
But on Friday, the witness agreed with Najafi-Chaghabouri's defence lawyer Darcy Lawrence who suggested the witness's ability to say who provided those details was hazy.
"My mind is very foggy," said the witness. "My statement doesn't hold very much importance. I'm not much help."
Under earlier cross-examination, the witness agreed with Lawrence about having a lengthy crack addiction. The witness also agreed with Lawrence's suggestion "you hadn't slept for five days" before giving a statement to police in March 2009.
Lawrence suggested the witness hadn't heard all the details of Wagad's killing from Najafi-Chaghabouri, but had instead been told them by his roommate Ali Reza Alamdari, after the two men had a fight.
When "Tony" came back to the apartment, "I questioned him about it," said the witness.
The witness agreed with Lawrence that when Najafi-Chaghabouri found out his roommate had talked to the witness, he called Leslie, who was known as "Kevin", who arrived at Najafi-Chaghabouri's North Vancouver apartment with a Taser. "He was angry," said the witness. "He approached me with it."
"Kevin told both you and Reza if you talked about this, you'd end up like that guy," said Lawrence.
"I was scared," said the witness.
"You were high," suggested Lawrence.
"Yes," said the witness.
