VANCOUVER -- An undercover police officer denied RCMP bought groceries and cigarettes for a pair of accused B.C. terrorists in order to free up funds from their welfare cheques to purchase bomb-making equipment, a court has heard.
John Nuttall's defence lawyer Marilyn Sandford suggested to the officer on Monday that financial support involved in an elaborate sting operation enabled her client and his wife to move forward with their alleged terrorist plot.
"You were freeing up money that they could then use to buy kettle pressure cookers, etc.," said Sandford.
"That wasn't the intent," replied the officer, whose identity is protected by a publication ban.
RCMP instructions expressly forbid the officer from using police money to buy any of the tools or components required to build the pressure-cooker devices. Although the officer did confirm that police provided Nuttall with wire clippers to finish constructing the explosives.
"We wanted to see how committed and how involved Mr. Nuttall was," said the officer, who promised Nuttall he would provide him with a half pound of C4 plastic explosive if he took care of the rest.
"He spent to his last cent to buy everything he needed to make the bombs."
The officer also confirmed that he had offered Nuttall employment after the attack was carried out.
Nuttall and his wife Amanda Korody each face four terrorism-related charges for allegedly plotting to set off pressure-cooker bombs on the B.C. legislature grounds on Canada Day 2013.
Both have pleaded not guilty.
The jury watched video in court on Monday of Nuttall, Korody and the undercover officer driving back from Kelowna to the Lower Mainland on June 19, 2013, days before the alleged attack took place.
Nuttall proposed to the undercover officer, who was driving, that they use paintball guns to practice a hostage-taking scenario, describing paintball as a useful training tool -- especially using red paint to mimic blood.
The footage also featured a discussion about acquiring guns for the proposed attack, with Nuttall rejecting the idea of buying an Israeli-made firearm because of his concerns that the money would wind up "inside a pocket of a Jew."
The trial is expected to continue into June.
