Former Bacon associate told intended target that he was behind failed hit
Man tells court that he took the heat because ‘Jamie was my boss and a friend’
A former drug-trafficking partner of Jamie Bacon says he was willing to take the blame for a failed 2008 hit on their mutual associate Dennis Karbovanec “because Jamie was my boss and a friend at that time.”
The man, who can be identified only as AB due to a publication ban, testified Friday that he wrote a note to Karbovanec after the botched murder, attempting to explain why AB wanted him dead.
“It was (Bacon’s) idea that I do that for him,” AB told jurors and B.C. Supreme Court Justice Catherine Wedge.
Earlier, AB testified that it was in fact Bacon who arranged for the attempted hit on Karbovanec because Bacon felt his behaviour was bringing a lot of negative police attention to their drug crew.
Bacon is charged with one count of counselling someone to commit murder in connection with the attempt on Karbovanec’s life on Dec. 31, 2008.
AB said he wrote the note in the entrance hall of Bacon’s former Abbotsford home.
In it, he listed all the reasons why he didn’t like Karbovanec, saying “that he was a bully, that he was ripping me off, and didn’t pay his drug bill with me,” AB testified.
AB said the plan was to make Karbovanec think that AB had ordered another associate, who can be identified only as CD, to do the shooting about 10 p.m. on New Year’s Eve.
AB said that Bacon’s brother Jon was going to deliver the note to Karbovanec “to basically take the heat off of Jamie.”
He said Karbovanec believed it was Bacon who was behind the shooting.
AB testified earlier that CD fired at Karbovanec on Bench Avenue while several of their associates met there under the guise of preparing for a fake drug rip-off.
But the Glock .45 that CD was using jammed after a couple of shots and Karbovanec was able to get away, AB said.
AB testified Friday that a short time after the attempted murder, AB was sitting inside his drug crew’s house on Seventh Avenue in Mission when “a Snapple bottle came through the window.”
He quickly looked out and saw a kid getting into Karbovanec’s SUV, he said.
AB got into his Jeep along with a friend, who carried AB’s Glock 17 on his lap. They started chasing Karbovanec’s vehicle around “like cat and mouse,” he testified.
“I ended up crashing the Jeep I was in,” AB testified. “A gun went off that I had. A Glock 17 … it accidentally went off. I believe it went off through the floor or through the dash.”
He said Karbovanec drove right up to him and “I jumped over a fence.”
In photos shown by the Crown, AB pointed to the fence he hopped, as well as to his wrecked Jeep. He later spoke to Karbovanec on the phone, AB testified.
“He invited me to come and see him in a hotel,” he said. “He asked me for some Oxys.”
AB said he didn’t accept Karbovanec’s invitation.
He also met CD after the shooting. Initially, CD wanted to make another attempt on Karbovanec in the underground parking lot of his condo complex, AB testified. The would-be killer lived in the same complex.
AB said he also met CD in Vancouver in 2010.
“He tried to steer the conversation toward something about … the incident with Dennis. I didn’t really want to get into the incident because at that time I thought he was possibly working for the police,” AB said. “I thought he was wearing a wire.”
AB will be back on the stand at the Vancouver Law Courts on Monday. CD is expected to testify for the Crown later in the trial.