Gun expert |
testifies in
lurder trial

Victim hit by three bullets

Bob Mackin
Contributing Writer

THE gun used in the
1997 killing of
Mohammed Michadi
has not been recovered
by police, but RCMP
firearms expert Barry
Alexander told the
court Tuesday that it’s
most likely a Belgian-
made Browning high-
powered pistol.

Alexander said he com-
pared the three cartridge cas-
ings and three bullets recov-
ered by investigators and
matched them to a shortlist of
five different 9 mm semiauto-
matic guns. The Browning, he
said, is the most common
weapon of the five used in
North America.

Three bullets hit Mirhadi.
The bullet chat was fired
through his forehead ended
up in a cooling vent in the
front left corner of the the-
atre. Another bullet was
found in his theatre chair and
a third was extracted from his
abdomen during an autopsy.

- Alexander could not con-
clusively answer how a bullet
fired through Mirhadi’s head
would have ended up in the
cooling vent. He said it may
have been redirected by the-
atre fixtures after exiting
Mirhadi’s head. Or it may
have been kicked into the vent
by a patron fleeing the theatre
in the commotion. Alexander
admitted during cross-exami-
nation that he was not asked
by RCMP investigators to
give his opinion on how the

bullet got in the vent, there-
tore he did not. study thar
aspect.

Alexander said the three
cartridge casings, ciected from
the side of the gun when the
trigger was pulled, came tron
the same weapon. As for the
bullets, he could say only that
they came from the same wpe
of weapon, RCMP investiga-
tors pinpointed Mirhadi’s
girlfriend Melanie Brown as
an early suspect in his murder,
she admitted on Tuesday dur-
ing cross-examination.

Brown denied she ever
talked to the accused, Michael
Caster, about arranging to
have Mirhadi sit in the front
row of the theatre the night
he was killed.

Brown admitted her rela-
tionship with Mirhadi was in
trouble because Mirhadi
fatkered a child with another
woman.

According to a transcript
from last February’s prelimi-
nary hearing, Brown said she
heard from a friend named
Monica after Mirhadi’s death
that he owed an $8,000 drug
debt to George Wasfi. She told
the court Tuesday that the
debt is now rumored to be
that of Mirhadi’s brother
Babak. Brown denied, under
cross-examination, speaking to
Wasti. McMurray read a tran-
script of a July 31, 1997, tele-
phone conversation between
Brown and Wasfi_ in which
Brown discusses the purchase
of 100 ecstacy pills from Wasfi.

Brown said she did not
recall the conversation. She
said it was probably her room-
mate whose phone conversa-
tion was intercepted by police
surveillance.

a

NEWS photo Mike \Weketie!d

Fresh face

THE North Shore's first baby of 1999, Liam
Robertson, is settling into life with mom Tracey
Wildman and dad Darren Roberison. Liam was born
at 6:28 a.m. on Jan. 1 at Lions Gate Hospital.

Train traffic disrupted by slide

From page 1

In addition to the road,
the slide blocked North
Vancouver City’s recently
constructed bicycle trail and
also briefly disrupted rail traf-
fic on the opposite side of the
road.

A train moving along the
roadside tracks biocked the

slide’s progress and was
forced to stop as Canadian
Pacitic Railway (CPR) per-
sonnel worked to clear the
tracks.

Barry Scott, a Calgary-
based CPR spokesman, said
the mishap did not cause any
significant delays in the com-
pany’s freight moving opera-
tions.

S 3 g 7 COMPARE
Obl. 5800
incisdes Sols pune sofa ed frame

Trepie faam cote fylon seoicn-gardeg fo°sa cavel
illbios aed Sou Covers Waa quanhhes as!

Hee ON ss vsmsmezso. 04-4504

Keith A. Cameron
Barrister & Solicitor
30 years experience
MORTGAGE INVESTORS
Let me help you
with your problems.

=> Business Law
=> Wills and Estates
= Foreclosures

Free initial consultation in a 9

relaxed Deep Cove atmosphere
Easy parking

AND TRUCK RENTALS
North Shore Owned & Operg

Appoinements available evenings &: weekends upon request

Any car on our lot.

m 720 Marine Dr, North Van

a & ALL LAPTOPS (Used)

Network Hardware (Used)
£ Dotmatrix Pririters (Used)

8 & Heavy-duty Keyboard Trays (Used)

# Used Hard-drives (540MB-2.1GB)
# Used Monitors

a # Used Systems
3 $ Office 97 Professional

(Student Specia! $149)

] # Office 97 Pro + Win 95 CD

(w/System Purchase)
NEW SYSTEMS:

987-FAR3

\Free pick-up & drop off anywhere on the North Sho)

THAT SATISFIES

20% oftt

30-75% off §
30-50% off f

S455
556-5145 F
from *59 5
from *99}

$499

5200 }

Horseshoe Bay sees changes

From page

ment contract without’a competitive bid
(process),” said Paul.

Ferry CURE is also protesting the pro-
posed move to shuffle the Queen of
Capilano off the Bowen Island-Horseshoe
Bay run.

The entry of Astrolabe Marine intw the
Bowen Island and Horseshoe Bay area
coincides with one of the company’s dirce-
tors also landing a federal governrnent con-
tract in the area.

Maurice N. Gagne was recently award-
ed a one-year cantract to serve as the
Horseshoe Bay harbour master as well as
the wharfinger at Bowen Island's Snug
Cove. The positions involve 2 variety of
duties including collecting fees for the use
of government docks, directing marine
thaficiand genera! upkeep.

Gagne did not return News calls to his
pager number.which is listed on a recently

posted sign at the Horseshoe Bay govern-
ment dock. His listed number is connected
to a fax machine and the listed Astrolabe
Marine number is no longer in service.
Gagne iss replacing ~— long-time

Horseshoe Bay harbour master Billy Lord.

Lord has held the position tor nearly 20
years and had just finished his sixth con-
tract. When his renews! did not arrive,
Lord wasn’t worried because the delay was
reportedly the result of a backlog in
Ottawa. Harbour masters are officially
appointed by the federal minister, bur in
reality they are chosen by the local offices
of Transport Canada. In many cases the
federal department's employees consult
communities to find suitable candidates.

Lord didn’t find out his name was not
forwarded this time around until Gagne
showed him a letter appointing him as the
new harbour master. “You'd think after 20
years you'd get a gold watch or something.
Not in this case,” said Lord who was never

informed of his status by Transport
Canada.

The reason Lord’s contract wasn't
renewed remains a mystery to the long-
time West Vancouver resident.

“That's a good question, I've been ask-
ing that myself,” said Lord.

Transport Canada spokesman Rod
Nelson said he can’t discuss individual cases
because of privacy legislation, but said local
input is sought before contracts are award-
cd “It's not that unusual that a contract is
not renewed,” said Nelson.

He said harbour masters are paid $100
monthly for expenses in addition to 20% of
fees collected up to a maximum of
$31,000. Nelson is aware of a pending
contract between Gagne and BC Ferries,
which he said would not necessarily place
Gagne ina contlict of interest position. But
he said his department would review the
situation in the event Gagne were to
receive the BC Ferries contract.

£ IBM Mil 300MMX
7 32MB SD/1.2GB/33.6k/32x/16Bit Sd/
4MB PCI
a # Intel Celeron 300A w/internal Cache
32MB SD/3.2GB/56«/36x/16Bit Sd/
4M3 AGP
@ AMD K6 Il 350MMX
32MB SD/3.2GB/561/40x/1 6Bit Sd/
: 4MB AGP
B # intol Pentium it 350
64MB ECCRAM/4.3GB/S6k/40x/16Bit
Sd/4MB AGP

*4,315

Basics you can believe in at Park Royal North, West Vancouver