Wednesday, November 23, 2011 - North Shore News - A3
Girlfriend testifies in murder trial
Woman tells judge accused and victim were dealing crack, heroin
Jane Seyd jseyd@nsnews.com
AN ex-girlfriend of one of two men accused of killing a drug dealer with a hatchet on Feb. 23, 2009 testified about how he had a fight on the phone with Ronak “Ronny” Wagad, telling him he was going to “get it” in the week before Wagad disappeared. The woman also told the judge about how her thenboyfriend, Charles “Charlie” Anthony Leslie, returned to their apartment one night wearing a different set of clothes than he’d left in, telling her he had just “done somebody.” Alicia Kellogg, 29, testified Monday in the murder trial of Leslie, 31, and Babak “Tony” Najafi-Chaghabouri, 27, of North Vancouver, being heard in B.C. Supreme Court. Leslie and Najafi-Chaghabouri are accused of murdering Wagad, whose body was discovered in the bush near Chilliwack on July 8, 2009. Last month, Justice Barry Davies heard from key witness Travis Winterlik, who was with Leslie and Najafi-Chaghabouri on the day of the murder, although he told the judge he didn’t witness the actual killing taking place. Winterlik told Davies about how Wagad managed to escape from a car trunk and tried to run away before NajafiChaghabouri tackled him and shoved him back into the vehicle. He also described how after the killing, he and Leslie changed
photo submitted
Rock the foreshore
DISTRICT of West Vancouver work crews deposit boulders along the waterfront off Navvy Jack Point. The district hopes to create a new sub-tidal reef to attract marine wildlife and also to slow waterfront erosion as part of its ongoing foreshore protection project. This work is expected to continue until mid-December. their clothes and burned their old ones in an industrial area near the Fraser River. Later, they went to Wagad’s West End apartment and took drugs and money, he said. On Monday, Kellogg told the judge that Leslie, NajafiChaghabouri and Wagad were all dealing crack and heroin in the months before Wagad disappeared.
Leslie and Wagad were working together, doing shifts on a dial-a-dope drug line, said Kellogg. But Leslie also harboured a secret hatred for Wagad, because he thought one of his exgirlfriends had slept with Wagad while he was in jail, she said. See Victim’s page 11
Former North Van MP Bell tops polls in city From page 1 Michael Evison, who was defeated in this election after serving a single term on West Vancouver council, said he would enjoy semi-retirement but stay involved in local politics, in particular with regards to more housing diversity, the district’s relationship with the Squamish Nation and AmblesideNow. “Personally I’m disappointed,” said Evison, who finished seventh, noting that all the incumbents aside from Bill Soprovich received fewer votes than the three newcomers elected in West Vancouver. “I’m not quite sure what the message is there.” In the City of North Vancouver, Coun. Bob Fearnley was the only incumbent to lose his seat, finishing eighth and ending a fiveelection, 15-year council tenure. “I was a little surprised at my first reaction when I saw I hadn’t made it,” Fearnley said. “I was relieved. I don’t know why, but I felt relieved. “I was getting really fed up with things,” he said. “Of course I wanted to continue contributing, that goes without saying. But I really was getting fed up with all the nonsense and the stuff that goes on with politics. And I was getting rather tired of politicians too.” City Mayor Darrell Mussatto said he was excited to work with two new councillors, former school trustee Linda Buchanan and former district mayor Don Bell, and credited the city’s civic engagement task force with raising voter turnout. “I think that helped increase the turnout, and . . . having a mayor’s race helped as well,” he said.
Unofficial election results District of North Vancouver *incumbents elected in bold Mayor: Richard Walton: * Margie Goodman Councillor: Robin Hicks: * Mike Little: * Doug MacKay-Dunn: * Lisa Muri: * Roger Bassam: * Alan Nixon: *
Votes
%age of vote
9,897 2,241
81.54% 18.46%
7,565 7,401 7,197 7,173 6,034 5,780
12.28% 12.01% 11.68% 11.64% 9.79% 9.38%
Holly Back: John Gilmour: Kevin Macauley: Wendy Qureshi: Austin Park: Howard Dahl:
5,230 4,931 4,259 3,111 1,500 1,426
8.49% 8.00% 6.91% 5.05% 2.43% 2.31%
School trustee: Franci Stratton: * Barry Forward: * Cyndi Gerlach: Mike Mcgraw: Norm Binion: Turnout: 21%
7,420 7,273 7,049 5,954 5,090
22.63% 22.18% 21.50% 18.16% 15.52%
Mayor: Darrell Mussatto * Ron Polly George Pringle Chris J. Nichols Councillor: Don Bell Linda Buchanan Craig Keating * Rod Clark * Pam Bookham Guy Heywood * Cheryl Leia Bob Fearnley Juliana Buitenhuis Amanda Nichol Yashar Khalighi Elizabeth Fodor D.W. (Bill) Duncan Glen Miller Joe Heilman Michael Charrois John Hutchinson
272 250 239
0.8% 0.7% 0.7%
School trustee: Susan Skinner * Lisa Bayne Christie Sacré Chris Dorais Mary Tasi * John Harvey Ian T. Young Turnout: 21.6%
3123 2512 2180 2177 1931 1221 1239
21.7% 17.5% 15.2% 15.1% 13.4% 8.5% 8.6%
District of West Vancouver
City of North Vancouver *incumbents elected in bold
Ron Sostad Carson Reed Polly Behgam Rabbani
*incumbents elected in bold Votes
%age of vote
5037 758 546 487
73.8% 11.1% 8.0% 7.1%
3901 3790 3642 3106 2986 2792 2626 2397 1885 1723 1454 950 805 779 754 696 379
11.0% 10.7% 10.3% 8.8% 8.4% 7.9% 7.4% 6.8% 5.3% 4.9% 4.1% 2.7% 2.3% 2.2% 2.1% 2.0% 1.1%
Mayor: Michael Smith Councillor: Bill Soprovich: * Mary-Ann Booth: Craig Cameron Nora Gambioli: Trish Panz: * Michael Lewis: * Michael Evison: * Vivian Vaughan: Carolanne Reynolds: Gregg Henderson: David Jones: Max Nikpay: Damian Kettlewell School trustee: Jane Kellett * Carolyn Broady Cindy Dekker * Dave Stevenson * Reema Faris Christine Banham Turnout: 23.73%
Votes
%age of vote
acclaimed 4,543 4,247 4,206 4,148 3,922 3,786 3,480 2,892 1,889 1,587 1,358 711 261
12.27% 11.47% 11.36% 11.20% 10.59% 10.22% 9.40% 7.81% 5.10% 4.29% 3.67% 1.92% 0.71%
5,419 5,052 4,883 4,852 3,735 3,012
20.11% 18.74% 18.12% 18.00% 13.86% 11.18%