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Prosecutors try to have key witness declared hostile
Vancouver, Jan 27: Prosecutors in the Air India trial, fighting to have a key witness declared hostile, have said that a friend`s involvement in a mass murder is simply not something a person could forget.
Vancouver, Jan 27: Prosecutors in the Air India trial, fighting to have a key witness declared hostile, have
said that a friend's involvement in a mass murder is simply not something a person could forget.
"It defies logic," crown prosecutor Richard Cairns told British Columbia Supreme Court yesterday.
"A mass murderer reveals his guilt to her, then a mass murderer threatens her. Her coming to this conclusion is something she could never forget. It's contrary to all our experience," he said.
The woman told investigators in a fit of tears that Prime accused Ajaib Singh Bagri came to her house late at night, hours before the bombings that killed 331 people, and asked to borrow her car. She said he wanted to take bags to the airport and that only the bags would be making the trip.
Bagri would not explain, only saying what he was doing was very important and there was a chance he could get caught and that she would never see him again. Bagri allegedly placed suitcases full of explosives on an Air India plane in 1985. It exploded off the coast of Ireland killing all 329 people on board.
According to the woman, Bagri came back to her house shortly after the bombing and said she was the only one who knew his secret, that she could get him in big trouble. But she only told that to Canadian intelligence investigator Willy Laurie in 1987 on the condition that she would never have to testify and that she would remain anonymous. When Laurie gave this information to the police and she was subpoenaed to testify against Bagri, the woman began to disavow incriminating evidence she provided over more than a decade.
"She's doing exactly what she said she would do," Canadian press quoted cairns as saying. "She was terrified of Bagri. She was concerned for her position in the Sikh community. She didn't want to be seen as giving information on her own people."
So when testifying in December, she offered little more than "I don't know" and "I can't remember." To have her declared adverse and win the right to question her more aggressively, cairns must prove she gave at least one inconsistent statement.
If the judge rules she is adverse and she does not admit she has changed her story, a separate argument will be made asking for her testimony to be thrown out. Instead Justice Ian Bruce Josephson would be required to consider the earlier evidence she gave to police.
Bagri and his co-accused, Ripudaman Singh Malik, are facing murder and conspiracy charges for the deaths of 331 people killed by two bomb explosions targeting Air India planes. One of the bombs exploded aboard Mumbai-bound Air India flight 182 'Kanishka'. The other bomb went off about an hour earlier, killing two baggage handlers at Tokyo's Narita airport while they were transferring luggage meant for another Air India plane.
Bureau Report
The woman told investigators in a fit of tears that Prime accused Ajaib Singh Bagri came to her house late at night, hours before the bombings that killed 331 people, and asked to borrow her car. She said he wanted to take bags to the airport and that only the bags would be making the trip.
Bagri would not explain, only saying what he was doing was very important and there was a chance he could get caught and that she would never see him again. Bagri allegedly placed suitcases full of explosives on an Air India plane in 1985. It exploded off the coast of Ireland killing all 329 people on board.
According to the woman, Bagri came back to her house shortly after the bombing and said she was the only one who knew his secret, that she could get him in big trouble. But she only told that to Canadian intelligence investigator Willy Laurie in 1987 on the condition that she would never have to testify and that she would remain anonymous. When Laurie gave this information to the police and she was subpoenaed to testify against Bagri, the woman began to disavow incriminating evidence she provided over more than a decade.
"She's doing exactly what she said she would do," Canadian press quoted cairns as saying. "She was terrified of Bagri. She was concerned for her position in the Sikh community. She didn't want to be seen as giving information on her own people."
So when testifying in December, she offered little more than "I don't know" and "I can't remember." To have her declared adverse and win the right to question her more aggressively, cairns must prove she gave at least one inconsistent statement.
If the judge rules she is adverse and she does not admit she has changed her story, a separate argument will be made asking for her testimony to be thrown out. Instead Justice Ian Bruce Josephson would be required to consider the earlier evidence she gave to police.
Bagri and his co-accused, Ripudaman Singh Malik, are facing murder and conspiracy charges for the deaths of 331 people killed by two bomb explosions targeting Air India planes. One of the bombs exploded aboard Mumbai-bound Air India flight 182 'Kanishka'. The other bomb went off about an hour earlier, killing two baggage handlers at Tokyo's Narita airport while they were transferring luggage meant for another Air India plane.
Bureau Report