The B.C. murder trial of an alleged contract killer heard testimony Monday about an alleged accomplice to the crime, who later became an agent for police.
Brandon Teixeira has pleaded not guilty to three charges — first-degree murder, attempted murder and discharging a firearm — related to two victims.
He’s accused in the October 2017 Surrey slaying of 28-year-old Nicolas Khabra and an attack on a second person who survived and whose name (along with numerous other elements of the case, including several other people’s identities) is protected by a publication ban.
On Monday, the court heard that the alleged accomplice, referred to as “Person X,” was a criminal with $50,000 in debt and was looking for compensation of between $400,000 and $500,000 for his cooperation with police.
On the stand, an RCMP officer told the jury Person X signed a contract in 2018, a year after Khabra’s killing, to become an informant for the police.
That contract included a monthly $8,000 stipend, plus expenses, totalling half a million dollars at the conclusion of his involvement in the case.
In the Crown’s opening argument to the court, prosecutor Dianne Wiedemann told the jury that Person X, who was in on the murder plot, was present when Teixeira allegedly shot Khabra four or five times.
Person X, she said, had planned to participate but froze when the moment came.
The Crown has alleged that the two were paid $160,000 for the Kabra killing.
The court heard that after they cut a deal with police, Person X was convicted of conspiracy to commit murder and handed a five-year sentence.
During cross-examination, Teixeira’s lawyer questioned Person X’s character, noting that he is a criminal, and told the court he had violated the terms of his contract with police multiple times.
Cross-examination is expected to continue on Tuesday. The trial began at the end of February and is expected to last six to eight months.
—With files from Rumina Daya, Global News