Giving evidence against racist killer 'almost wrecked life of witness'

Published on Tuesday 24 February 2009 08:55

THE strain of giving evidence against a racist killer almost wrecked the life of a key witness, a court has been told.

Cator Moyes, 33, was "sweating, shaking and close to tears" before he went into the witness box during the trial of Army sergeant Michael Ross – now serving life for the murder of Orkney waiter Shamsuddin Mahmood. Since the trial, the electrician's labourer has been unable to work because of depression and anxiety, said solicitor advocate David Taylor, defending.

Ross – who later served as a sniper in the Black Watch – was found guilty of the shooting of the 26-year-old Bangladesh-born waiter in the Mumutaz restaurant in Kirkwall in 1994.

Judge Lord Hardie jailed him for a minimum of 25 years last October and also ruled that reluctant witness Moyes, was in contempt of court.

After hearing a plea for leniency at the High Court in Edinburgh yesterday Lord Hardie spared Moyes from jail.

"It does appear in this case that you have some health difficulties which may be made worse if you are sentenced to a period of imprisonment."

Stressing that it was "an unusual course" Lord Hardie put Moyes – now of Murrayburn Park, Edinburgh – on probation for two years and ordered him to carry out 200 hours unpaid work.

Moyes had told murder hunt detectives that teenager Ross had racist views, but no more than anyone else. He later signed a second statement confirming that the first statement was true.

However, when giving evidence against Ross, he was reluctant to confirm what he had said. Lord Hardie said Ross' racist views were "a significant part" of the case and Moyes had been trying to avoid the question.