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Extracted
from The
Fatal shooting of villager in GOF ops
Posted By rajlira On
Court
told deceased was behind him when bullet grazed deponent’s chest
MIRI: The
coroner’s court here yesterday heard how a deponent felt when a revolver was
pointed at him from about nine metres off.
The deponent Sibat Satu, 47, a security guard,
under examination by Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Mohd
Amril Johari, said when he realised that a revolver was pointed at him, he felt
frightened and tried to run away.
He said at
that point he realised he had been shot in the chest
and that the man who shot him was wearing a green-coloured
uniform.
Sibat told the court that he was unarmed when he was hit by the bullet
that grazed the skin of his chest.
The coroner’s
court was holding an inquest for the second consecutive day to determine the
cause of the sudden death of a Rumah Bangga dweller Inyang Gendang during an arrest operation carried out by the 18th
Battalion of the General Operations Force (GOF) on
Inyang died from a gunshot wound to the head.
Sibat yesterday admitted that he was among several other fellow
longhouse residents involved in the chaotic incident on
Sibat said at the time he was shot at Inyang
was behind him.
According to Sibat, the scuffle started because the longhouse residents,
who were all unarmed, were trying to prevent the police party from arresting
the longhouse chief.
Also called
to testify yesterday was Tuai Rumah
Bangga Andip, 72, who
admitted to organising a ‘miring’ ceremony to welcome
the police party on the date in question.
The chieftain
said before the Dec 19 incident, the villagers had lodged a report at Beluru police station about the clearing of their land by
the company, but the police did not come to their aid.
He said after
waiting for the police for sometime, but the police did not come, his son drove
the bulldozer to their longhouse to stop further destruction to their land.
Bangga said, on
Two other
deponents, namely Indip Uma
and Minah Umam also
testified yesterday.
Both recounted
the chaotic incident where the arresting police party was all in green and
blue-coloured uniforms.
The coroner
was magistrate Musyiri Peet
while holding watching brief were federal counsel for civil case Maisara Johari and counsel
Harrison Ngau Laing.
Maisara, however, was absent.
The case,
re-opened on Sept 14, was in continuance of an inquest heard by coroner
magistrate Khairul Jamil Yunus who made his ruling on
Khairul’s ruling was that the villagers had refused to surrender
their longhouse chief and had attacked the GOF personnel, which created a tense
and chaotic situation.
Khairul said the police opened fire in retaliation and this
caused the villagers to stop attacking the police.
The
villagers, however, continued to throw stones and wood instead, Khairul said.
He said the
villagers’ claim of being weaponless was not accepted by the court as the
police personnel suffered injuries.
Khairul said the court was unable to identify the firearms used
in the operation or the gun that had killed Inyang.
Besides, he
said, the chemist’s report was unable to confirm from which gun the bullet that
went through Inyang’s head had come.
The post
mortem only confirmed that the deceased was hit on the head.
Khairul said based on the testimony of the witnesses the warning
shot by the GOF was made in self-defence.
Khairul said none of the witnesses was sure that the shot which
hit the deceased was intentional, thus ruled that death was a misadventure.
The next
hearing dates have been fixed for Oct 30-31.
Since
yesterday, the coroner had called 11 deponents. Next in his list are the
pathologist, the GOF armoury store keeper and Chief
Inspector Suip Abdul Samad.