Dec 10, 2008 - 02:10 PM

By Jeff Mitchell

WHITBY -- A Hells Angel accused of conspiring to kill a rival biker has testified he was stalling for time when he was caught on tape by a police agent, apparently discussing the plot.

Remond Akleh said he was caught off-guard when Steven Gault, a man he disliked and feared, showed up at his home early one morning in the fall of 2006 and began talking about a plan to kill Woodbridge biker Frank Lenti. Mr. Akleh and Mark Stephenson, president of the Oshawa Hells Angels, have pleaded not guilty to conspiring to commit murder and counselling to commit murder.

The Crown's case against the men is based on allegations made by Mr. Gault, a police agent who infiltrated the Hells Angels. He testified he was enlisted by Mr. Akleh and Mr. Stephenson in June 2006 to kill Mr. Lenti, who the Angels feared would revive the rival Bandidos gang in Ontario.

Mr. Akleh, in the third day of testimony in his own defence in this Superior Court trial, has said repeatedly he had numerous run-ins with Mr. Gault -- a man he had identified to fellow bikers as a police informant -- including one instance in which Mr. Gault threatened him with death. He said Wednesday that when Mr. Gault showed up unexpectedly at his Cobourg home early on the morning of Sept. 27, 2006, he thought their enmity was coming to a violent climax.

"I thought I was dying that morning," Mr. Akleh testified.

But when Mr. Gault started talking about Mr. Lenti, Mr. Akleh played along, first trying to discourage him -- Mr. Akleh told him police had learned the Angels were discussing bringing Mr. Lenti into their club -- and then stalling for time, saying he'd find a picture of Mr. Lenti and information on where the man could be found, court heard.

Mr. Akleh said he could have told Mr. Gault exactly where to find Mr. Lenti -- a man he'd met numerous times at the Vaughan strip club where Mr. Lenti worked -- but didn't.

"I never tell him where the man works," he testified.

"I don't want anything to happen to Frank. I don't want anything to do with Mr. Gault."

At one point on recordings played in court Mr. Akleh tells Mr. Gault that Mr. Lenti and some of his associates are poised to join the Outlaws gang.

"He's becoming nothing," Mr. Gault responds. "He'll be fertilizer."

Mr. Akleh told his defence lawyer, Glen Orr, that while some of the talk sounds as if he's supportive of a plot, the opposite was true. He said he was stalling for time so he could convince Hells Angels officers to stop Mr. Gault.

If that failed, he said, he planned to call the police.

"But I never had a chance to do that," he said.

The next day at 6 a.m. police burst into Mr. Akleh's house and arrested him, jurors heard.

The trial, before Justice Bruce Glass, continues.