DRUG RIPOFF LED TO ANGELS' REVENGE

A witness in the kidnapping trial of a Hells Angels hang-around
testified yesterday about a frightening confrontation that preceded
the abduction of one of his friends.

Robert Nicholson, who is in witness protection, admitted that he and
his friend, Kirk Cooley, stole 7.7 kilograms of marijuana from a house
that he says turned out to be owned by the Hells Angels.

Danny Anderson, a Hells Angels hang-around, is charged with kidnapping
and assault in the abduction of Cooley from a Ladner home in November
2001.

Nicholson, a tall, thin man, told B.C. Supreme Court Justice Sunni
Stromberg-Stein that, not long after the drug ripoff, he heard a voice
mail from a man identifying himself as Hal, from the Vancouver Hells
Angels.

Nicholson said that he and Cooley arranged to meet at the Willowbrook
Mall in Langley to try to resolve the problem, but instead were
confronted by some large, muscular men, one of them wearing a Hells
Angels vest.

Under questioning from prosecutor Anne Clark, Nicholson said he was
shoved into the back of a vehicle with four other men and searched for
a surveillance wire and weapons.

"The driver asked me if I had any weapons and I said no. He told me
they did and he reached down to what was apparently under his seat and
pulled out what I thought looked like a gun. I'd say it was a
semi-automatic, black."

Nicholson said the driver warned him that "I'd better wise up or I was
going to get the beating of my f - - - ing life.'"

He says he was punched in the head and had his cellphone, his jacket
and Cooley's car keys stolen from him before he fled the vehicle.

Asked by Clark why he lied to police about the theft of the drugs,
Nicholson replied that he feared he'd be arrested.

And asked why he didn't just return the dope, he said he was afraid
"at best I'd get hurt and at worst I'd get killed."

The trial continues with cross-examination of Nicholson.