Policeman in tears while recounting tragic moments of dead comrades’ agonies

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KOTA KINABALU: A Bukit Aman Special Branch officer broke down in tears in court yesterday, when recounting the tragic moments of his comrades’ agonies after sustaining injuries which led to their deaths in a skirmish at a water village of Kampung Sri Jaya, Simunul in Semporna on March 2 last year.

Sgt-Maj Mohd Zamari Suhot began to sob as he recalled the late ASP Michael Padel who had
been shot, walking unsteadily towards him and crying: “Tolong, tolong” (Help, help) before collapsing.

He told the court that Padel had reached house number 27 where a suspect in the Lahad Datu intrusion, known as ‘Imam Tua’, was believed to have been in hiding, and introduced himself as a police officer.

“After the door was opened (soon after Padel’s introduction), gunshots were suddenly fired on an automatic mode from inside the house,” he said.

Mohd Zamari said during the 7.30pm incident, he saw flashes of light and sounds of gunshots from the house and immediately shouted, “down” for the other policemen involved in the raid to take cover.

“At that time, I saw the (late) Supt Ibrahim Lebar and ASP Mohamad Hasnal Jamil still standing.

“After I had shouted ‘Down!’ for the second time, they began to lie on their belly beside me,” he said.

Mohd Zamari, the prosecution’s 35th witness said when the three of them were lying belly-down, he heard Ibrahim and Mohamad Hasnal telling him that they had been shot and right after that, he saw a man in white attire running out of house number 26 and heading towards Ibrahim.

Again, the sergeant-major was trying to control his emotions when recalling seeing the man in white brandishing a long sharp object and slashing Ibrahim’s head.

After a 10-minute break for the witness to compose himself, Mohd Zamari told the court that he rolled over and fell into the sea to save himself, in view of the fact that he did not carry a weapon in that raid.

Asked by deputy public prosecutor Datuk Abdul Wahab Mohamed what he saw when he was in the water, Mohd Zamari began to sob again while telling the court that he saw the man in white slashing Ibrahim’s head several times before returning to house number 26.

He also said he heard the sound of the ‘azan’ as the shooting continued and it stopped as soon as the ‘azan’ was over.

Thirty accused, comprising 27 Filipinos and three local residents, are being tried in the case, in which 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