Accussed Killer Of Former HA Crack Dealer Moved To New Goal
Greg Carr
MacPhee tranferred to federal penitentiary in N.B. due to concerns
about retaliation in Dartmouth jail
SYDNEY - The accused killer of a former Hells Angels associate was
moved to a more secure federal penitentiary from a provincial jail
Monday to await trial.
Nelson MacPhee, 42, of Dominion was granted the transfer after safety
concerns were cited in Nova Scotia Supreme Court, where Mr. MacPhee
will be tried next year.
He is charged with first-degree murder in the Dec. 30 shooting death of
Kenneth Seymour, 39, a Glace Bay resident and former Vancouver drug
boss who was associated with outlaw biker gangs, and attempted murder
for wounding Mr. Seymour's younger brother. Donald Seymour, 38, has
since recovered.
"It's to deal with prisoner safety," Justice David MacAdam said
Monday in ordering the move.
Mr. MacPhee, a former associate of the Seymour brothers, was not
present. He is scheduled to return to court Dec. 4 to have a date set
for his trial to begin.
He is believed to have been moved Monday afternoon to the federal
prison in Renous, N.B., from the Central Nova Scotia Correctional
Facility in Dartmouth.
Crown attorney John MacDonald told the court Monday that extreme
security measures have been required to protect Mr. MacPhee since Cape
Breton Regional Police arrested him Jan. 2.
"The two persons who were shot are connected to the drug trade," Mr.
MacDonald told the court. "There are people who may retaliate on their
behalf.
"(Police) perceive a very real risk to Mr. MacPhee."
Snipers were positioned on the roof of the five-storey Sydney Justice
Centre before daybreak last Thursday to await Mr. MacPhee's arrival
for his preliminary hearing. Officers on the street were dressed in
full riot gear and carried MP5 submachine-guns.
Inside the building, an entire floor was closed to the public, and
everyone entering the courtroom was searched for weapons.
Mr. MacPhee's legal aid lawyer, Allan Nicholson, said Monday his
client was more concerned about preparing for his trial and accessing
better services in a federal institution than about any security
threat.
"My client is pretty happy-go-lucky," Mr. Nicholson said. "He never
appears to be afraid; he's pretty cool, pretty confident.
"But everyone is just as happy if he is in federal custody."
Mr. Nicholson is hoping to get permission for Mr. MacPhee to skip the
five-minute hearing on Dec. 4 to set a trial date. Justice MacAdam said
it was "ridiculous" for Mr. MacPhee to come all the way back to Sydney
just for that.
The Seymour brothers were on parole when a lone man shot them near
their Glace Bay home last winter. They had been convicted in 2001 of
drug trafficking and conspiracy for heading a gang that the Vancouver
Sun said earned $10,000 to $20,000 a day selling crack in downtown
Vancouver. The brothers also moved drugs by bus to Ontario and Nova
Scotia, evidence showed.
Two other accused murderers, both from the North Sydney area, are also
in federal custody awaiting trial.
David MacKeigan, 35, of Florence was charged after the burned remains
of his girlfriend turned up on a beach in Little Pond. Herbie Hawkins,
30, of North Sydney is charged with killing a mentally handicapped
strawberry picker July 9 and robbing him of a few hundred dollars.
http://thechronicleherald.ca/NovaScotia/542281.html
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Threats, security dominate murder case
Suspect under heavy guard as witness describes bloody shooting of drug
kingpin, brother at hearing
By TERA CAMUS Cape Breton Bureau
ADVERTISEMENT
SYDNEY - Police armed with MP5 assault rifles surrounded the Sydney
Justice Centre on Thursday during a preliminary hearing for a Glace Bay
man charged with first-degree murder in the shooting death of a former
Vancouver drug boss and Hells Angels associate.
Nelson MacPhee, 41, of Dominion was brought to court under heavy guard
to witness just one man give details of a bloody Dec. 30 shooting in a
rundown Glace Bay neighbourhood known as the Hub.
"I can't comment whether there was a threat received," Staff Sgt.
Paul Jobe of Cape Breton Regional Police said of the presence of armed
officers in riot gear. "We're assisting major crime and this is their
call.
"It's a high-profile case we're dealing with here."
No weapons were found on anyone entering court, a sheriff's
department spokesman said.
"Everything went smooth," he said.
After the gunfire ended in Glace Bay on that cold night last December,
Kenneth Seymour, 39, a former associate of outlaw biker gangs in
Ontario and Vancouver, lay dead outside his home and his younger
brother Donald, 38, was critically injured inside. Mr. MacPhee is also
charged with attempted murder in that shooting.
Donald Seymour has recovered and sat among his brothers and associates
in the locked-down courtroom Thursday. He is refusing to give any
evidence to identify his assailant and his brother's killer.
"Sleep tight, Nelson," one of the Seymours shouted as Judge Brian
Williston ordered Mr. MacPhee back into custody until Dec. 4, when a
date will be set for his trial in Nova Scotia Supreme Court.
As the gallery emptied, another Seymour brother from Glace Bay
threatened a television journalist with his cane. Police are
investigating.
Mr. MacPhee, who has a lengthy record for drug offences, assaults and
theft, was a known associate of the Seymour brothers, who were on
parole when they were shot. They served time for drug trafficking and
conspiracy to traffic for heading the crack cocaine trade in downtown
Vancouver's east side for five years beginning in the late 1990s.
Drugs were also bused to dealers in Cape Breton.
According to the Vancouver Sun, the Glace Bay brothers headed a gang
that earned $10,000 to $20,000 a day selling crack in Vancouver's
East Hastings area and intimidated rivals with gunfire and beatings.
The weapon used in the Seymour shootings hasn't been found but police
suspect it was among eight handguns stolen that month from a Wadman
Street home in Glace Bay. The home belonged to a fishing boat captain
who had employed Mr. MacPhee as a deckhand over the years.
Days after the Seymour shootings, the captain, Bert Simms, killed
himself with a long-barrelled gun inside his home.
The 45-year-old fisherman was also the owner of a fishing boat that was
set on fire in Dingwall Harbour in the fall of 2004.
Police suspected cocaine and other drugs were moving from port to port
in Cape Breton and Mr. Simms, who had no criminal record, may have
become involved.
Court records show that since October 1999, Vancouver RCMP have been
investigating the activities of the Seymour group, a suspected criminal
organization involved in trafficking cocaine and marijuana in
Vancouver, Ontario and Nova Scotia.
The Seymours are known associates of the Hell's Angels and other
outlaw biker groups based in Ontario.
Kenneth Seymour, the target of the RCMP investigation, bought a $38,000
bungalow in Nova Scotia in 1999 using $20 bills, then spent $40,000 on
renovations, court documents say.
That same year, he reported a net income of $13,356, of which $9,756
was in employment insurance benefits.
>From 1993 to 1998, he never declared more than $16,000 in net income,
the documents say.
In December 2000, RCMP from Nova Scotia and British Columbia arrested
Kenneth and Donald Seymour and their cousin Earl Stephen Seymour of
Bible Hill.
In raids on homes and businesses during a two-year investigation, RCMP
seized or restrained about $339,000 in cash, plus homes, Corvettes,
Harley-Davidson motorcycles, jet-skis, ATVs, trailers, SUVs and antique
furniture worth more than $1.5 million.
Kenneth and Donald Seymour were charged with first-degree murder in
April 2000 in the beating death of Ontario drug dealer Michael Raymond
Bath, 29, whose body was found in January 1999 in a lake near Squamish,
B.C.
Days later, the charges were stayed.
The brothers pleaded guilty to drug charges in September 2001 and were
sentenced to eight and six years respectively, minus credit for time
served while awaiting trial.
Earl Seymour was sentenced to six years in prison for cocaine
trafficking, possession of marijuana for the purpose of trafficking and
arson for bombing the home of a Cape Breton Regional Police officer's
grandparents as police were investigating the drug case.
http://www.herald.ns.ca/Front/541332.html
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According to at least two individuals on the street Anthony Tony Beck
is a lowlying punk. I think he will be raped by the street element of
the club if they end up incarcerated.