KOTA KINABALU: A Special Branch (SB) police officer who witnessed his superior being slashed several times on the head told the High Court here yesterday that he would have been able to save his boss, who was slashed by an attacker during their ambush operation at Kampung Sri Jaya in Simunul, Semporna, if he had a gun with him.
Sergeant Major Mohd Zamari Hj Suhot, 47, who was testifying before Justice Stephen Chung as the 35th witness in the on-going trial against 29 men and a woman charged for terrorism activities, replied “I’m not sure” to a question by Philippine Embassy-assigned counsel Datuk N. Sivananthan.
The counsel had asked: “Do you also agree with me that your boss Superintendent Ibrahim Lebar and other SB personnel were unarmed or were told not to bring firearms?”
Sivananthan: “Who are the other senior SB personnel apart from Ibrahim?”
Mohd Zamari: “There were two other senior personnel.”
The 30 accused persons, including the nephew of the late self-styled Sulu Sultan III, Datu Jamalul Kiram, had allegedly committed terrorism acts at several places in Lahad Datu, Semporna, Kunak and Sandakan between February 12 and April 10, 2013.
If found guilty they face the mandatory death sentence while the rest face life imprisonment and a fine.
To a question by Sivananthan, Mohd Zamari testified that he never went to find out who was the actual name of the person called Imam Tua.
He also said he had no knowledge whether Imam Tua was shot dead at Kampung Sri Jaya in Simunul.
To another question by Sivananthan, the witness recalled to the best of his knowledge that there were more than five alleged Sulu gunmen shot dead at that time.
He then said he had conducted physical surveillance on the three accused persons, namely Salip Akhmad Emali, Julham Rashid and Al Wazir Osman @ Abdul before the three men were arrested.
However, he said he did not do any physical surveillance on Imam Tua who was believed to be the right hand man of Raja Muda Datu Agbimuddin Kiram.
Earlier, under examination-in-chief by deputy public prosecutor (DPP) Datuk Abdul Wahab Mohamed, Mohd Zamari testified that he swam 100 meters from the place near Imam Tua’s house, number 27, and was helped by a police personnel who was guarding at house number 12, which is near the entrance of Jambatan Lima.
He explained in his testimony that he and a police personnel from the Narcotics Department had continued guarding the entrance to Jambatan Lima, which is the way to Imam Tua’s alleged house.
Mohd Zamari also said one of the policemen from the Semporna police station had given him an M16 rifle as protection, while the police had a gun with him while they were guarding that area.
He further said he later received a call to inform him that his team leader Ibrahim had died and also informed him that the situation was then safe after five hours of guarding that area.
The trial continues today.