The credibility of a star Crown witness has become the focus of an intense cross-examination in the B.C. trial of an alleged contract killer.
Brandon Teixeira has pleaded not guilty to first-degree murder, attempted murder and firearms charges in the October 2017 killing of Nicolas Khabra in Surrey.
Teixeira’s defence has focused on the motivations of the Crown’s key witness, whose identity is protected under a publication ban and who has been dubbed ‘Person X.’ Was he primarily motivated to cooperate with police to save his own life, or to cash in?
The witness has testified that he and Teixeira were paid $160,000 to kill Khabra, but that he froze at the crucial moment and didn’t shoot.
But the court has also heard he signed a lucrative deal with the RCMP for his cooperation that included a monthly allowance of $8,000, independent legal fees and other benefits.
Added together, Person X, a violent convicted criminal, collected more than $750,000 for his cooperation.
Defence counsel Vicki Williams told the court Person X lied to police and violated the terms of his police contract, breaching the rules multiple times after he began working for the RCMP. Infractions included drug possession, threatening behaviour and motor vehicle violations, she told the court.
Nearly five years after Khabra’s killing, Person X took RCMP on a “show and tell” drive, detailing where he claimed key evidence had been disposed of, including two handguns, a knife, bullets and more.
Person X told jurors it was Teixeira who threw one of two guns into a river.
After the killing, word spread that Person X had failed to pull the trigger, and he feared “someone” was going to kill him, he testified.
He told the court his primary reason for flipping to the police was not for money, but to get out of a life of crime.
Part of the deal Person X brokered with the RCMP and the Crown was a plea deal.
He ultimately pled guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and was handed a sentence of just five years. The maximum sentence for the offence is life in prison.
— with files from Rumina Daya