Pubdate: Sat, 10 Feb 2001 Source: Sydney Morning Herald (Australia) Copyright: 2001 The Sydney Morning Herald Contact: GPO Box 3771, Sydney NSW 2001 Fax: 61-(0)2-9282 3492 Website: http://www.smh.com.au/ Forum: http://forums.fairfax.com.au/ Author: Neil Mercer DRUG DEALER TELLS ALL, GOES 'SCOT-FREE' A protected witness admitted yesterday he had got away "scot-free" from serious drug charges after agreeing to give evidence against Michael Kanaan, who is accused of a double murder outside the Five Dock Hotel. The witness, who has been given the pseudonym Alan Rossini, has told the Supreme Court that in June, 1999, he was arrested and charged with cocaine dealing. He had been called to the NSW Crime Commission the next month and decided to tell all he knew about the Five Dock shooting the previous year. He agreed with Mr Winston Terracini, SC, for Kanaan, that by co-operating with the authorities, "I was hoping I would get some help, yes". Mr Rossini was giving evidence against Kanaan, 25, who has pleaded not guilty to the murder of Adam Wright and Michael Hurle and the attempted murder of Ron Singleton outside the Five Dock Hotel on July 17, 1998. Mr Rossini told the court on Thursday that he had been with Mr Kanaan in a car that had pulled up outside the pub on the night of the shooting and that he had seen Mr Kanaan holding a gun and firing it. Yesterday, under cross-examination, he agreed with Mr Terracini that the cocaine charges had been withdrawn. Q. "Despite the fact that you knew you were guilty?" A. "Yes, sir." Q. "As a result you went scot-free?" A. "Eventually, yes, but not because of the [Crime] Commission." Mr Rossini was questioned about different versions of events he had given to the commission and later the police, but he denied there were "large inconsistencies" between some of his statements. He agreed with Mr Terracini, though, that when first questioned by the Crime Commission, he had said there were four people in the car. Q. "Did you tell the Crime Commission anything about a fifth person?" A. "No sir." Mr Rossini has told the court he later remembered that there were five people in the car on the night - himself, Michael Kanaan, Shadi Derbas, Bassim Kazzi and a youth around 17 years of age. Mr Terracini: "You got wrong the number of people in the car when you were interviewed by the commission. Did you just forget?" Mr Rossini: "No, at that time I remembered Michael, Shadi, Bassim and myself, I forgot about that young guy that was there at that time." Q. "What I am suggesting to you is there were only four people?" A. "No, sir." Q. "And the accused, Mr Kanaan, was not one of them?" A. "He was, sir." Mr Rossini also agreed he had made a mistake when he initially told investigators he and Bassim Kazzi had dropped their phones at the scene of the shooting. He later said it was him and Kanaan. He told the court he did not know the youth who had been sitting in the back and had never seen him again. He said he was not worried about the youth going to the police. "He would have been shot if he'd done that." The youth was "one of Shadi's boys". "Shadi bringing this guy is telling us that this guy is OK." Mr Rossini rejected Mr Terracini's suggestion he might be protecting the youth. The trial continues. - --- MAP posted-by: GD