ACCUSED KILLER JUST WANTED TO SELL DOPE

A now-33-year-old Toronto man on trial for taking part in a botched
home invasion that left another man dead, told police more than six
years ago he only wanted to come to Ottawa to sell his drugs.

A taped Aug. 30, 1995, statement Omar Marks made to police
investigating the February 1994 shooting of Steve Tomlinson was played
for the court yesterday in Marks' and 27-year-old Mark Farrell's
manslaughter trial.

It's the Crown's theory Marks and Farrell, along with Barrington
Wilkins, came from Toronto to sell two pounds of marijuana to
Tomlinson's roommate Neville Robinson. However, according to the
theory, they arrived to learn that Robinson already had a pound of
pot.

Plan Hatched

It's alleged the trio then hatched a plan to steal Robinson's
marijuana. Wilkins is expected to tell the court that he waited in the
car while Marks and Farrell went into the building when Tomlinson was
shot.

In his statement to police, Marks admits to coming from Toronto to
sell two pounds of marijuana for about $5,000, but said it was
Wilkins' idea. Before getting into Marks' story, he can be heard on
the tape trying to work out a deal with police. The investigators told
him he would get a maximum of five years in prison if he pleaded
guilty to manslaughter, but Marks said he didn't participate in the
killing so he shouldn't have to plead to the charge.

Marks said the drugs were his, but Wilkins was setting up the deal
with someone in Ottawa.

However, Marks got suspicious of the deal as time went by, especially
when the deal looked like it was falling apart.

'Tried To Stiff Him'

Finally on the afternoon of the shooting, Marks said he waited in the
car when Wilkins and Farrell went into the building where the deal was
supposed to go down.

Marks said Wilkins came back to the car wondering where Farrell was
because he had left him in the building.

When Farrell came back to the car, Marks said he learned that
something had gone wrong.

"These guys tried to stiff him," Marks said of his conversation with
Farrell in the car.

Marks said that Farrell told him one guy ran and another reached for
his waist.

"That's the one he shot," Marks said.

The trial is expected to continue today.