Pubdate: Tue, 08 Nov 2005 Source: Calgary Herald (CN AB) Copyright: 2005 Calgary Herald Contact: http://www.canada.com/calgary/calgaryherald/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/66 Author: Daryl Slade, Calgary Herald ADDICT TOOK ARSON JOB TO FEED COCAINE HABIT Two young children killed in a deliberately set fire to their Applewood home last year were victims of a crack cocaine addict doing a "job" for money to buy his next hit of illegal drugs, a court was told Monday. "I cared about my fix of cocaine. That's all I cared," Michael Douglas Sheets, who has already admitted his role in the blaze and is serving a 15-year prison sentence, testified at the trial of three co-accused persons. "I'm not gonna blame it on the drugs. It's my own stupidity for taking the job to begin with." Sheets told defence lawyer Alain Hepner, who represents Abdulazziz Ellahib, that he was not stoned when he and Fernum Kezar drove to the home of Tahsin Al-Mayahi and Salima Barih about 1:30 a.m. on Nov. 18, broke a window and tossed in a Molotov cocktail. He maintained he and Kezar were hired by Ellahib to scare Barih, whose husband had been involved in an affair with Ellahib's partner, Manar Hussein. Sheets said he tried, as they drove to the home, to talk Kezar out of setting a fire. However, Hepner accused Sheets of making up that fact, as he had never previously mentioned it to the police, prosecutors or the court. Hepner also accused Sheets of lying about his alleged knowledge that nobody would be home at one of two adjoining units in the three-unit building, something Hepner said was also divulged for the first time. Sheets, 36, admitted he had no idea if anyone was home at the third adjoining unit. He said he and Kezar, 27, had been assured by Ellahib that nobody was present at the target home when he offered them $120 to do the job. "I'm not a kid killer," said Sheets. "If I had known there was someone in that home, I would have taken my life in a heartbeat to get them out. It's common sense. "If someone was at home, I would have stopped any kind of fire being made . . . it wasn't my idea to burn the place, just to throw the rock (through the window)." Ellahib, 39, and Hussein, 26, each face one charge of arson causing bodily harm to Barih and two counts of manslaughter for the deaths of Ali Al-Mayahi, 5, and his sister Saja, 4. Tony Dewitt, 41, is charged with arson. Sheets and Kezar each pleaded guilty to all three charges. Kezar was sentenced last month to 16 years in prison, Hepner attacked Sheets' credibility by methodically going through the man's criminal record dating back to 1984. It included at least 20 convictions, for robbery, robbery with violence, kidnapping, possession of a weapon, assault with a weapon, break and enter, theft, possession of stolen property, personation with intent, being unlawfully at large, obstruction of justice and failing to appear in court. He will be back on the witness stand when the trial before Court of Queen's Bench Justice Beth Hughes resumes Wednesday. - --- MAP posted-by: Derek