VANCOUVER, November 23, 2004
CP
A Crown prosecutor has invoked the Paul Bernardo sex slayings case
in Ontario to defend paying a key witness in the Air India trial in
Vancouver.
Richard Cairns was trying to explain why the witness was paid almost
500-thousand dollars to testify against Ajaib Singh Bagri.
He says sometimes the court has to pay witnesses or make dirty deals
with criminals, and he pointed to the Bernardo murders.
He told court Karla Homolka got away with a manslaughter charge and
a relatively light sentence after agreeing to give testimony that helped
convict Bernardo in 1995.
Cairns says the Bernardo and Air India crimes were extremely serious
and neither could be successfully prosecuted without reaching an accommodation
with a potential witness.
In the Air India case, the witness said Bagri admitted his role in
two bombings that killed 331 people in 1985.
The defence claims the witness made up his story in a fit of greed.