KOTA KINABALU: A VAT69 commando told the High Court here yesterday his understanding of an instruction to shoot at armed intruders during a cut-off operation at Kampung Tanjung Batu, Lahad Datu also meant to kill the intruders.
Sergeant Mahamad Sukeri Rejab said he and his team could take action if they felt their lives were at stake during an encounter with intruders.
He said this during cross examination by counsel Datuk N. Sivananthan at the trial of 30 people charged with various offences related to the intrusion in Lahad Datu last year.
Sivananthan: Am I right in saying that if an intruder puts your life at risk, then you are at liberty to shoot the intruder?
Mahamad Sukeri: Yes, if the intruder brought weapons such as firearms or parangs (machetes) by pointing these weapons at us.
-Sivananthan: In other words, when the order to shoot was given, as far as you were concerned, you would shoot to kill?
Mahamad Sukeri: Yes.
The 15th witness told the court that when he and his team shot and killed three intruders with machetes as their only weapon during the cut-off operation at Kampung Tanjung Batu, there was a possibility that there were other armed intruders nearby.
“Why could you and your team not have shot those three men on their legs since they were only carrying parangs?” asked Sivananthan.
Mahamad Sukeri replied: “I don’t know. All of us (Mahamad Sukeri’s patrol members) were shooting. Insp Shahar Omar (patrol chief) gave the order to shoot. I didn’t know where to shoot either on the legs or the body.”
The VAT69 commando told the court that he and his team would have given medical attention to the three intruders if they were still alive after being shot.
But he said after inspecting the three intruders that fell to the ground at a distance of 20 feet, he and his team saw there were no signs of life.
Sivananthan: Don’t you agree that if a person was unconscious, the only way to know if he is still alive is to feel for his pulse?
Mahamad Sukeri: I disagree because I saw there was no sign of breathing.
He agreed with Sivananthan that after he and his team shot dead the three intruders, they did not encounter any intruder, but there was a possibility of other intruders at their operation area.
Mahamad Sukeri disagreed with counsel that following the death of two VAT69 commandos during a skirmish at Kampung Tanduo on March 1 last year, the general sentiment among the sergeant and his team was to shoot to kill anyone who may have resembled an intruder.
Thirty accused, comprising 27 Filipinos and three local residents, are being tried in the case.
Some are facing multiple charges of being members of a terrorist group or waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, recruiting members for a terrorist group or willfully harbouring individuals they knew to be members of a terrorist group.
They allegedly committed the offences between Feb 12 and April 10 last year.
The hearing before Justice Stephen Chung at the Sabah Prisons Department continues today. — Bernama