Massacre snitch's role questioned in Calgary courtroom

The man fingering murder suspect [The Accused] as one of three gunmen who stormed the Bolsa restaurant denied he was actually one of the killers.

The witness, who cannot be named, rejected repeated suggestions from defence counsel Tonii Roulston Thursday he was intimately involved in the triple slayings.

In heated cross-examination, Roulston said the witness, who can only be identified as M.M., was lying when he said he was watching the carnage from a football field away.

“Your vantage point is actually in the restaurant,” Roulston said, in accusing the man of falsely putting [The Accused] inside the south Calgary eatery.

“You’re making the suggestion,” M.M. told Roulston.

“I don’t agree with it, I was not inside that restaurant, I did not pull the trigger.”

[The Accused] is charged with three counts of first-degree murder in connection with the Jan. 1, 2009 killings of gangster Sanjeev Mann, his drug associate Aaron Bendle and innocent bystander Keni Su’a.

Roulston noted that at one point in his testimony earlier, M.M. slipped and said he “witnessed” three people being murdered.

“You’re the one who’s actually doing the murders, so of course you saw them,” Roulston charged.

“No, my emotions were running high,” he said, in explaining his error.

“That’s what I said, that’s not what happened — I watched the one guy (Su’a) murdered outside,” M.M. insisted.

He also denied “orchestrating” the plot to use Bendle as a pawn to get to Mann, a member of the FK gang and the main target, even though he was the one who provided Bendle’s number to others in the rival FOB.

But he did admit participating in the deadly plan and would likely be serving a minimum 25 years behind bars if not for a prosecutorial immunity agreement he signed for his testimony.

“You should be doing 25 years, really,” Roulston said, of the minimum parole eligibility on a first-degree murder conviction.

“For partaking in the planning, yes,” M.M. said.

His testimony continues Friday.