Mr. Big trial: Jury hears taped confession obtained through police ruse
RCMP officer posing as fake crime boss had lengthy experience in 'Mr. Big' cases across Canada
The jury at a Montreal courthouse Friday heard a much-anticipated taped confession in the murder trial of Abiram Subramaniam – a recording that police went to great lengths to obtain.
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Abiram Subramaniam was heard confessing to the killing of 18-year-old Joshua Williams in March 2011 in a taped conversation with an RCMP agent who Subramaniam believed was a major gang leader willing to hire him in a lucrative business.
The conversation begins with the RCMP officer — whose real name has been kept hidden — telling Subramaniam that the gang had learned police were going to arrest him for murder, and that without the help of the gang, he would be arrested soon.
The RCMP officer is heard telling the suspect that police have DNA evidence and that some witnesses are "rats."
He then insists Subramaniam tell him everything so he can cover it up.
Subramaniam initially hesitates and says that he doesn't feel right. Eventually, Subramaniam opens up and explains that he was drinking beers and smoking with friends when he decided to try to rob his friend Clinton for a ring.
"I just snapped out of nowhere," he says.
Subramaniam then says that Joshua Williams intervened to stop the theft. Subramaniam admits that he stabbed Williams five or six times and that he saw the body fall to the ground.
He then says that he drove north on Highway 15, stopped on the bridge en route to Laval, put on his vehicle's emergency flashers, smoked a cigarette and discarded the knife in the water below.
He then went to a cousin's house and burned his clothes.
In the tape, Subramaniam is also heard saying there were three witnesses who fled when he stabbed Williams.
The confession came during the second meeting between Subramanian and the fake crime boss.
The first meeting took place in an empty dining room in a luxury hotel on Montreal's South Shore after Subramaniam failed a surveillance exercise. The officer told the court Friday that Subramaniam was honest and precise when he recounted the mission.
Their second meeting took place at a warehouse in Vancouver where he set out to get a confession from Subramaniam.
The same RCMP witness said that he has played a role in 70 to 100 such cases across the country.
His testimony will continue Monday morning.
The confession was the culmination of an elaborate police sting, known as a Mr. Big operation, that aimed to make a case against the accused.
Several other police officers who also played roles in the fake criminal organization have already testified in the case, including one officer who testified Thursday that the RCMP had paid Subramaniam $18,000 to work for the fake crime syndicate.