Ottawa Citizen

Kidnapping victim testifies he lied in describing killing

- SHAAMINI YOGARETNAM syogaretna­m@postmedia.com twitter.com/shaaminiwh­y

The man kidnapped after a group of men ambushed Mohamed Najdi the night he was shot dead is, for the first time, claiming he was threatened by the homicide victim’s brother into implicatin­g men in the plot to kill his friend.

Amirali Mohsen, 24, told a jury that Najdi was “like a brother” to him, yet now says he was “made to say somethings” by Najdi’s own brother Hussein Najdi and called his previous statements to police a list of lies.

“He’s going to come back on me and retaliate,” Mohsen claimed on the witness stand Thursday. “He told me, ‘Say this, say that. I’ll pay you.’ ”

Mohamed Mohamed, who prosecutor­s allege was the man who shot Najdi in January 2016, and Nedeljko Borozan, who allegedly provided the guns, have both pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder in the gangland kidnapping-turned-murder plot that prosecutor­s contend saw seven men hatch a scheme to get revenge on Najdi, 28.

Mohsen was one of two key eyewitness­es named at the outset of trial. The first, whose identity is shielded by a publicatio­n ban, refused to testify.

Mohsen told the jury that after picking up Najdi’s girlfriend from work at a hookah lounge, the two men and Mohamud Yusuf “just went down to do a quick something,” the night of the killing.

The jury has heard that Najdi, a known drug dealer, was lured to a parking lot on Claremont Drive with the ruse of a deal. Yusuf got out of the car, Mohsen said, and a black SUV pulled up behind them.

“We got ambushed by a group of masked men.”

Mohsen testified that Najdi appeared to be the target, with the group immediatel­y going to get him from the back seat of the car. Mohsen was then tossed into the SUV. It’s there that his story has taken an unexpected turn.

“I blacked out there, I don’t remember much,” he said, explaining he had been drinking and getting high that January 2016 evening.

While he was in the SUV, he heard “one or two” gunshots. Najdi had been shot twice in the back as he was running from his attackers, the jury has heard.

“My head was facing down in the SUV so I couldn’t really see,” Mohsen said, contradict­ing evidence describing the men, their voices and actions that he had repeatedly given police and prosecutor­s prior to his testimony at trial. On the stand, he said he had only seen “glimpses” of things and didn’t have “supersonic” ears to be able to identify voices.

The group eventually dumped Mohsen downtown, where he walked around for a bit, he says, before getting into a cab to go back to the apartment he shared with Najdi. There, he changed clothes and brushed his teeth and made his way to Najdi’s family home.

“They were just coming home after their mama’s birthday,” Mohsen said. Mohsen spoke with Hussein Najdi, Najdi’s brother. “I told him that his brother got shot. I told him to be careful.”

Mohsen also claimed that it was in this conversati­on, just moments after finding out that his brother had been shot dead that Hussein Najdi allegedly told him to make up a story to implicate men he heard had been involved.

“He just started yelling names,” Mohsen said. “He told me names that I don’t even know to say.”

When prosecutor Julien Lalande asked why Mohsen never told this to police or prosecutor­s who had heard his other version of events from the time of the killing up until Monday of this week, when he was being prepped for court, Mohsen said, “I’m not afraid anymore.”

Mohsen said his own house was shot up in December 2017, adding to his fears. Lalande remarked that the incident was nearly two years after Najdi’s homicide and questioned why it would be used to threaten him into giving false evidence years after the killing.

Mohsen also denied, after already having told police, seeing how the car they drove to the deal was commandeer­ed by the attackers who drove it alongside the SUV during his abduction, hearing the men brag about how “the setup was perfect” and hearing them discuss taking Najdi’s gold chains to Money Mart.

Mohsen also claimed that Hussein Najdi gave him further instructio­ns to tell those alleged lies to police at Najdi’s funeral.

“At his own brother’s funeral, Hussein was telling you to lie about the chains?” an incredulou­s Lalande asked.

“Of course, they ’re in the game,” Mohsen said. “He wanted me to do anything to bring them down.”

The trial resumes Friday.

 ??  ?? Mohamed Najdi
Mohamed Najdi

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