Lawyer pins killings on Winnipeg bikers

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This article was published 22/10/2009 (6021 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

London, Ont. — Wayne Kellestine has unfairly been made the scapegoat for the murders of eight of his fellow Bandidos because he is a handy target for the Crown and his co-defendants, his lawyer argued Wednesday.

"It is easy to say. Let’s start with Wayne. It is easy to convict him," defence lawyer Clay Powell suggested to the jury during his closing address.

But the theory that Kellestine orchestrated the murders of eight members of the Toronto Bandidos in April 2006 — and that his co-defendants aided out of fear — is a convenient interpretation of the evidence, his lawyer said.

Instead the jury should look at the people pointing the finger at Kellestine, including two of his co-accused and a Winnipeg Bandido turned informant who can only be identified as M.H., said Powell.

"You should not decide this case on the evidence from M.H., Marcelo Aravena and Michael Sandham," stated Powell, who suggested "the boys from Winnipeg" are the ones responsible for the worst mass murder in Ontario history.

Kellestine, Aravena, Sandham, Dwight Mushey, Brett Gardiner and Frank Mather are on trial in Ontario Superior Court, each facing eight counts of first-degree murder.

They are accused of killing the members of the Toronto chapter at Kellestine’s southwestern Ontario farm as a result of an internal dispute within the biker organization. The jury has heard that senior Bandidos in the U.S. ordered Kellestine and Sandham to take steps to disband the Toronto chapter.

Sandham, Mushey, Aravena, Gardiner and M.H. were all associated with the Winnipeg chapter, which was seeking full Bandido status. They travelled to the home of Kellestine about 10 days before the massacre and stayed at his farm.

"When did this all start?" asked Powell. "Kellestine was at his farm with his kid. It started when the boys from Winnipeg arrived unannounced," he told the jury.

The defence lawyer and former senior prosecutor told the jury that he was only going to point the finger at Sandham, a one-time police officer turned Bandido.

"He brings his happy crew from Winnipeg. Mr. Sandham had everything to gain. He was a wannabe… He is smart. He is cunning. He is ruthless," Powell said.

The request for the Toronto members to visit Kellestine was part of the "Sandham plan," Powell said. It was Sandham who had a motive because he learned that two Toronto Bandidos were sent to Winnipeg to kill him, after learning he had previously been a police officer.

In a colourful closing address, Powell poked fun at the length of the Crown’s case, the Toronto defence lawyers ("Bay St. thumpers") in the trial, as well as the claims of Sandham and Aravena.

"Holy cow, whoosh, bang," was Powell’s description of the evidence from Sandham that he accidentally shot one of the Toronto Bandidos while falling backwards in Matrix-like fashion after being wounded in the chest.

"I was afraid of Wayne," said Powell in a mocking tone of voice in reference to the testimony of Aravena, a former mixed martial arts competitor nearly 25 years younger than Kellestine.

Kellestine did not take the stand in his defence.

The Crown began what it said would be a two-day closing address late Wednesday afternoon.

Lead prosecutor Kevin Gowdey started by outlining to the jury what he called a "contingent plan" by all of the six defendants to kill the Toronto Bandidos if they did not give up their "patches" willingly.

 

— Canwest News Service