BY TONY BLAIS<\/p>\n
A drug dealer in the witness protection program told an Edmonton jury Monday an accused killer sent violent messages after $160,000 worth of crack cocaine went missing.<\/p>\n
Testifying at the first-degree murder trial of alleged White Boy Posse leader Josh Petrin, Jordan St. Amant told jurors he had been sent from Lloydminster to Inuvik with the drugs, but lost them after hiding them in a forest just outside the northern town.<\/p>\n
St. Amant testified he went back to find the cocaine after a heavy snowfall. He was unable to find it after searching for days. He said he told Petrin about it via an encrypted BlackBerry messaging program and then \u201chell started breaking loose\u201d and he began to get \u201cdeath threats.\u201d<\/p>\n
St. Amant told the jury he messaged Petrin, who used the online handle \u201cusual suspect,\u201d that he believed the man who drove him to Inuvik, Bob Roth Sr., had stolen the drugs and he wanted to kill him. He said he was told he was still on the hook for the loss.<\/p>\n
Copies of the encrypted messages were given to the jury.<\/p>\n
In one message, \u201cusual suspect\u201d says: \u201cU think I give a f\u2013k about a driver being dead? I want his whole family dead and I want my f\u2013king unit before anything!!!\u201d<\/p>\n
In a second message, \u201cusual suspect\u201d says: \u201cOK we\u2019re going to torture this goof for days and get the f\u2013king s\u2013t out of him.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not long after, a \u201cfreaked out\u201d and \u201cscared\u201d St. Amant said he went to police and ended up in the federal witness protection program.<\/p>\n
Under cross-examination, St. Amant said that after being with police investigators, he assumed Roth Sr. was dead. He said he learned that the RCMP had seized the missing crack cocaine.<\/p>\n
In an opening statement from the Crown, the jurors were told Petrin wanted Roth \u201cbumped off\u201d over the missing drugs and a gang affiliate named Nikolas Nowytzkyj had been sentenced to 20 years after pleading guilty to manslaughter in connection with his killing.<\/p>\n
Also in cross-examination, St. Amant admitted he didn\u2019t see Petrin send the \u201cusual suspect\u201d messages and can\u2019t say for sure it was him.<\/p>\n
Petrin is on trial for the Sept. 25, 2012, slaying of drug dealer Bryan Gower. The jury has heard Gower was shot dead after two armed gang affiliates ambushed him during a supposed drug deal outside Lloydminster.<\/p>\n
Source: \u00a0Edmonton Sun<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"