Accounts of UN violence match up, says Crown
Four former United Nations gangsters who testified at Cory Vallee’s murder trial bolstered each other’s evidence by telling similar stories of the gang’s violent rampage, a prosecutor told B.C. Supreme Court.
The Crown’s Alex Burton said in closing submissions on Friday that even though the men are unsavoury witnesses, they told consistent stories that prove there was a conspiracy to kill the Bacon brothers and their fellow Red Scorpions.
Burton told Justice Janice Dillon that the four witnesses, who can only be identified as A, B, C and D, “have come in here and testified about the entirety of their gang community.”
He said they testified “not just about Mr. Vallee, but about the other conspirators and their roles and their friends and their colleagues and their business partners, how the gang worked, who was in charge.”
Vallee is charged with conspiring to kill Jonathan, Jarrod and Jamie Bacon between Jan. 1, 2008, and Feb. 8, 2009, as well as the Feb. 6, 2009, murder of their associate, Kevin LeClair.
Over months of evidence last year, the former UN gangsters-turned Crown witnesses said Vallee was a UN hitman brought in to kill the Bacons.
Criminals who testify for the Crown are known as Vetrovec witnesses and must be corroborated by other evidence.
Vallee’s lawyers are expected to attack the witnesses’ credibility during closing arguments next week.
Burton said A, B, C and D provided the same details about the same events. “The fact that their testimony has consistencies between them is significant,” he said.
They each testified about the leadership roles of UN gangsters Clay Roueche and Conor D’Monte and weren’t challenged about that evidence during cross-examination, Burton noted.
“That they are coming forward and testifying about these people is significant. And is certainly capable of giving your ladyship comfort when analyzing their evidence,” he said. “The fact that these witnesses who were embedded in this world came here to testify and were willing to give that information about all their former colleagues and that it’s consistent among themselves has value to this court.”
He said the witnesses all gave similar accounts of “other shootings or murders of Bacons and RS and UN members and associates. They testified about collecting information on the Bacons and RS, including licence-plate numbers, vehicles makes and models.”
“They all testified about scouting or hunting the Bacons and the RS, of reporting known locations and addresses of the Bacons and the RS — such as residences, gyms, restaurants — about gathering and distributing photographs, the need to bring in someone specifically to wreak havoc,” Burton said.
He told Dillon the witnesses described a shooting and fire at LeClair’s rented house months before he was shot to death in Langley.
They each described how the hunt for the Bacons intensified after UN gangster Duane Meyer was murdered in Abbotsford on May 8, 2008.
They each testified about the murder of stereo-installer Jonathan Barber a day later after he was mistaken for a Bacon brother as he drove one of their vehicles in Burnaby.
The witnesses testified about “conversations about the prices on the heads of Bacons and Red Scorpions, the creation of a dedicated team to get or kill the Bacons, the murder of Kevin LeClair,” Burton said.
The prosecution team is expected to finish its closing arguments Monday, followed by Vallee’s lawyers continuing for the rest of the week.