KOTA KINABALU: The High Court here yesterday heard that the five teams designated to cordon off the area of Kampung Tanduo, Lahad Datu, where the armed men were holed up found their effort to be futile.
Commando Macha Ak Ata, 48, told Justice Stephen Chung that the five teams were not successful in fully guarding the location of the armed men.
“The guarding of the armed men’s area could not be fully executed from shoulder to shoulder as the area was too wide, swampy, bushy and it is a jungle area,” said Macha in response to a suggestion by counsel Rowiena Rasad, who represented Pabblo Alie.
Macha was the third witness called by the prosecution to give his oral testimony in the trial of 29 accused persons, including Datu Amirbahar Hushin Kiram, who is the nephew of the late self-styled Sulu Sultanate III Datu Jamalul Kiram, who were charged with committing terrorism acts.
They had allegedly committed the offences between Feb 12, 2013 and April 10, 2013 at several places in Lahad Datu, Semporna and Sandakan.
The indictment was framed under the Penal Code which carries the death sentence while the rest provided for life imprisonment and a fine upon conviction.
The trial was held at a hall used as an open court at the Central Prisons in Kepayan under tight security by prison personnel named Trup Tindakan Cepat (TTC) while a VAT69 personnel escorted each accused.
To another question from Rowiena under cross examination, the witness disagreed that his experience alone as a commando could help in this Ops Daulat.
“The effectiveness of this operation also depended on other sectors, the terrain, as well as the assessment of our men,” explained Macha where one of his men was killed during the first day of the firefight on March 1, 2013.
He also said there was no changes made on the instructions given by their superior after the gunfight which occurred about 300 meters from Kampung Tanduo.
“From February 15, 2013 up to April 10, 2013, there was no other place that we were tasked to do operations, only Kampung Tanduo,” he added.
The prosecution led by Attorney General Tan Sri Abdul Gani Patail, was assisted by deputy public prosecutors Abdul Wahab Mohamed, Ishak Mad Yussoff, Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar, Cheng Kher Her and Anati Kisahi, while counsels involved were Datuk N Sivananthan together with team James Tsai, Stella Simon, Zaleha Mohd Yusof Pan, Majnah Abdillah and Zakaria Ahmad for the 27 accused; Ram Singh, Kamaruddin Mohd Chinki and YS Lo for Mohamed Ali Ahmad, and Abdul Ghani Zelika defended Abdul Hadi Mawan.
The trial continues today.