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Hussein El-Hajj Hassan told people he was going to meet an influential Hells Angel member the night he died

Hussein El-Hajj Hassan told people he was going to meet an influential Hells Angel member the night he died, to work out a problem over drug-dealing territory, the biker testified yesterday that he was never aware of any such meeting.Paul "Sasquatch" Porter testified briefly yesterday at the trial of Shant Esrabian, who is charged with first-degree murder in Mr. El-Hajj Hassan's 2004 death.
Mr. Esrabian has pleaded not guilty.Earlier this week, Mr. El-Hajj Hassan's widow, Soumia Labrouki, testified that her husband told her on Aug. 20, 2004 that he was going to meet Mr. Porter in Cornwall to discuss a territory problem that one of Mr. El-Hajj Hassan's dealers had been havingAccording to Marwan Sablani, another associate of Mr. El-Hajj Hassan's who testified this week, Mark Yegin, was going to pick Mr. El-Hajj Hassan up and drive him there.Though Mr. Sablani said Mr. El-Hajj Hassan went to meet Mr. Yegin just before 8 p.m. that August night, he never made it to Cornwall.His body was found almost a year later in a shallow grave in Ottawa's west end. He had been shot twice and his right hand had been cut off.Yesterday, Mr. Porter sat on the witness stand, guarded by a member of the Ottawa Police Squad's tactical unit, and told the jury he had only met Mr. El-Hajj Hassan once, in a restaurant."Was there a meeting planned for you to meet Mr. El-Hajj Hassan on Aug. 20, 2004?" asked assistant Crown attorney Julie Scott."Nope," the 400-pound biker replied."Did you know about any meeting?""Nope," he replied, completing his brief testimony.Mr. Porter then ambled out of the courtroom, whispering, "Say hi to Fadi," as he passed Mr. Esrabian in the prisoner's box.Fadi Saleh and Mr. Yegin are also charged with first-degree murder in Mr. El-Hajj Hassan's death. Over the course of the week, the jury has heard that Mr. El-Hajj Hassan was an Ottawa cocaine dealer who got most of his supply from Mr. Saleh.However, various associates have testified this week that Mr. El-Hajj Hassan grew frustrated with Mr. Saleh's organization in 2004 and decided to start dealing directly with his supplier in Toronto, Rafei Ebrekdjian."He wanted to give the money directly to me," Mr. Ebrekdjian testified yesterday. He said after Mr. El-Hajj Hassan approached him about dealing directly with him, he told Mr. Saleh about it."He didn't like it. He was upset," Mr. Ebrekdjian said when he was asked how Mr. Saleh responded to that news.
"People shouldn't cross other people."
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