Bandidos murder trial No plan for massacre before trip: ex-biker

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This article was published 30/07/2009 (6186 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

By John Miner

LONDON, Ont. — The Winnipeg Bandidos had no plan to slaughter their Toronto counterparts when they headed for Ontario in March 2006, jurors heard Wednesday.

The Crown’s star witness in the Bandidos murder trial, a police informant and biker at the time, said he had no plans to kill anybody when he left Manitoba for the London, Ont.-area farm of Wayne Kellestine.

“We just knew we were going to Ontario,” testified M.H., who is under witness protection and can’t be identified.

Kellestine is one of six men on trial for first-degree murder in the slayings of eight members of the Toronto Bandidos chapter.

M.H. said it wasn’t until the Winnipeg Bandidos were at Kellestine’s farm and had discussed pulling the Toronto members’ patches — in effect kicking them out of the club — that Kellestine mentioned killing.

M.H. testified Kellestine told the group more than once: “If we kill one, we kill them all.” He also warned the bikers at his farm to “prepare for the worst” when the Toronto bikers arrived for a meeting.

Jurors, who have already heard that Kellestine sang, danced and prayed the night of the eight killings, were told of other strange behaviour.

Lawyer Tony Bryant, who represents Marcelo Aravena, one of the accused, asked M.H. about the Winnipeg club hunting with Kellestine.

Bryant suggested Kellestine reached up into a tree, picked up a piece of black material and ate it, telling the bikers it was raccoon feces.

M.H. said he had no recollection of the incident, but agreed it was possible.

“That is pretty much Wayne Kellestine. It could have happened,” he said.

M.H. also agreed with Bryant that pulling the patches of a fellow club member didn’t equate with killing him.

“It really depends on the club,” he said.

In the case of the Bandidos, M.H. said he understood at the time that the club was about brotherhood and getting along.

He agreed with Bryant that he wouldn’t have wanted to be a Bandido if it was about killing people.

“That isn’t why I joined the club,” he said.

Bryant grilled M.H. on why he’s now testifying Aravena was a prospect in the Bandidos when he testified at the preliminary hearing he had a lower rank in the club.

M.H. said the memory came to him after the preliminary hearing.

“It is strange. Stuff comes to me at different times. My lawyer calls me the Rain Man for that very reason,” he said, referring to the savant character played by Dustin Hoffman in the movie of the same name.

When the first burst of gunfire was heard from the barn, M.H. testified earlier that he and another biker rushed inside.

Bryant suggested that when he entered, M.H. didn’t know what team anybody was on.

“I had a pretty good idea. We were the ones carrying the guns,” M.H. replied.

Bryant’s cross-examination of M.H. is to continue today.

— The Canadian Press