The defence team began its cross examination of informant Stevie francis in the jfk terror plot trial on Thursday afternoon and the defence began to hammer away at the man’s credibility and the real reason behind his involvement as an informant for the US government.
One of abdul kadir’s attorneys Toni Messina openly challenged the star witness on his checkered pass and whether he only continued to get persons involved in the plot for his own benefit.
Under cross examination, the informant told the court that the men currently facing charges were not the ones originally sought by him and the investigators.
He explained that he was working with a previous group of Guyanese men, including one named Rutherford. The men apparently expressed no interest and he moved on and found other persons. He claimed that it was Russell defreitas who reached out to him with the idea of the plot after the first plot fell through.
The defence attorney asked him if it wasn’t in his best interest as an informant of the us government to ensure he had someone for the plot, since that would mean he would get a reduced sentence on his drugs possession charges. The man sought to explain how the plot came up, but the defence attorney pressured him into a yes or no answer and he admitted yes. But he pointed out too that as an official government informant he was working on several cases at the time for the US although the terrorist plot one was the big one.
He was questioned about his visit to Guyana with Russell Defreitas and showing details of the JFK airport to various persons. He testified too about meeting abdul kadir and kadir expressing some business interests and the need to build a mosque in linden.
The man told the court that during one of his visits to kadir’s linden house, most of the talk was about the need to set up import and export business and Russell Defreitas even offered a few suggestions on various products that could be exported. The man listed wood, bauxite and fat pork as some of defreitas’ suggestions. he was questioned about showing kadir a plan of the airport stating that kadir pointed out to him he could use google earth software to see just about everything. He also said that kadir enquired about blueprints.
However as the defence attorney continued to question him about the meeting, he said he never passed on the information to the investigating officers. On several occasions he testified that he could not recall various events including meeting kadir’s wife.
As Kadir’s attorney badgered the man and his testimony asking him about whether he was telling the truth and what the benefits were for him, she was cautioned by the judge Dora Irizarry to stick to asking questions and not making statements.
The man was also questioned about taking Abdel Nur, the accused who pleaded guilty to a lesser charge to the passport office in Georgetown with the hope of getting him a travel document. The man admitted that he lied to immigration officials by telling them that Nur was travelling to transact business.
