WITNESS DESCRIBES CHAOS DURING FAILED GROW-RIP

Women "screaming and crying" and dogs going "haywire" is how a witness
describes the scene during a grow-rip gone wrong.

Ralph Brett took the stand in the trial of three men, Steven Keall,
Kristopher Kinghorn and Michael Medaric, charged in the April 9 invasion of
an East Richmond home, which housed a marijuana growing operation.

Crown prosecutor Joanna Ferguson said that over the next five days the
court will hear testimony from various witnesses, including some of the six
to eight people who were in the home at the time of the invasion.

Brett, the Crown's first witness and a friend of the primary renter, said
he was sleeping on a futon in the kitchen when he was shaken violently and
told to wake up.

He described a man wearing a bandana over his face, wielding a crowbar and
herding everyone into the upstairs bathroom. Another man guarded the front
door, while a third, wearing a balaclava, brandished a 10 inch-long gun,
which he fired into the ceiling, according to the Crown.

The Crown contends that when the police arrived on scene they found a car
with its lights on in the driveway of the home on Gilley Road. As they
approached, the car took off and a short chase ensued.

The car soon got stuck in a cul-de-sac.

Two men were arrested immediately, while a third man ran away but was soon
pulled down by police dogs.

Police found a crowbar and two balaclavas in the car.

The next morning a man walking his dog found a gun near were the police
chase began. The bullet found in the ceiling of the house matched the gun,
said Ferguson.

Brett said he heard squealing tires and police sirens at the end of the
10-minute-long ordeal.

Other than that, the witness said it was hard to hear much over the yelping
of the three dogs that lived at the home.

"One of them said, 'Get your dogs down or I'll shoot them,'" recalls Brett.

Brett admits he had smoked about 10 marijuana joints in the course of the
day and was pretty "drowsy" at the time.

As soon as it was over, Brett said he grabbed his bag and left. Police
picked him up at a bus stop shortly after.

At the time of the incident, police said that the primary renter, who is
scheduled to testify, claimed to have been pistol-whipped when he refused
to co-operate.

He managed to get out of the house and call 911 while the invasion was in
progress.

The defence began its cross-examination at press time.