Didn't plot hit, Angel insists

WHITBY -- Throughout a second day of withering cross-examination, a Hells Angel accused of plotting an underworld killing has insisted he had nothing to do with the alleged conspiracy.

Remond (Ray) Akleh, a member of the motorcycle club's Nomads wing, kept his composure once again Monday as Crown counsel John Scott continued an attack begun Friday. Mr. Scott has steadily hammered away at Mr. Akleh, who first took the stand in his own defence last Monday (Dec. 8).

Mr. Akleh and Oshawa Hells Angels president Mark Stephenson have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy to commit murder and counselling to commit murder. The Crown alleges the accused men enlisted Steven Gault to carry out a hit on Frank Lenti, a Woodbridge biker with ties to the rival Bandidos gang.

Mr. Gault, a police agent who infiltrated the Angels, testified at length earlier in this trial. He said the men first approached him with the murder plot in June 2006, after the subject of Mr. Lenti came up at a national meeting of the Hells Angels in Windsor.

Mr. Akleh's testimony is yet another remarkable facet of an extraordinary trial; he denies engaging in any plot, and has revealed he worked as a police informant, providing Durham cops with information on Mr. Gault and other matters.

In cross-examination Mr. Scott has attempted to assail Mr. Akleh's credibility, suggesting he has exaggerated the depth of his enmity with Mr. Gault. He has also tried to paint a picture of Mr. Akleh as a loyal soldier who took part in a plot to kill a man seen as a threat to the Angels.

Mr. Akleh said again Monday he disliked and feared Mr. Gault, a man he'd identified to fellow bikers as a police informant years ago. That action resulted in bad blood between Mr. Akleh and the Oshawa Angels, and a death threat directed at him by Mr. Gault, jurors have heard.

"I didn't trust him in the beginning and I didn't trust him at the very end," Mr. Akleh said Monday in insisting he would never have entered into a conspiracy with Mr. Gault.

"I knew he was a police informant," he said. "I would not have done that."

Earlier in the trial jurors heard Mr. Akleh was a member of an Angels "think tank" formed several years ago to advise the club on how to deal with rival bikers, including the Bandidos. The committee's final recommendations, reviewed at an officers meeting in the spring of 2002, suggested the Angels keep the peace.

"Nobody wants to be friends with the Bandits, but we want to avoid problems if possible," minutes from the meeting indicate. "We are not going to start any trouble but everyone feels that we deal with situations as they arise."

The trial, before Superior Court Justice Bruce Glass, continues.