9:30am: Court resumed in open session. Prosecution Counsel Mr. Mohamed Bangura continued the examination of Witness TF1-585 in open session. The examination focussed on the information surrouding the death of Sam Bockarie, his bodyguards and members of his family.

The Death of Sam Bockarie

The witness spoke about how she moved from Nimba county, where she, together with other fighters had been based when they returned from Ivory Coast. The witness said she went to Monrovia where she stayed with a man called Papay Morriba. The witness said that when Papay Morriba visited Benjamin Yeaten, he came back and told her that Sam Bockarie and members of his family had been killed. The witness said she took other steps to confirm the information. Toasty, a former bodyguard to Sam Bockarie, came and confirmed the news to the witness. The witness said Toasty told her that many other fighters who were followers of Sam Bockarie had been killed. The witness said that according to Papay Morriba, Benjamin Yeaten said they had killed Bockarie, his followers and his family members based on orders from Charles Taylor. When asked about her own brother who was also one of Bockarie’s fighters, the witness broke down into tears. The court took a brief recess to allow the witness to get herself together and stop crying. Upon resumption of proceedings, the witness informed the court that her brother was one of those killed as part of Bockarie’s followers. She said that Toasty, who had confirmed Bockarie’s death was also found and killed by Taylor’s men. The witness said that Taylor’s men continued to look out for other followers of Bockarie in order to kill them. She said she went into hiding, spending two weeks in a room. She said she later went to the Sierra Leone embassy in Monrovia, then moved to a refugee camp and later boarded a ship and was repatriated to Sierra Leone. This, she said was in 2002. Prosecution counsel asked that the witness be shown three differrent photographs in which she identified first Sam Bockarie and Zigzag Marzah, then Issa Sesay and Jungle, and finally Benjamin Yeaten. All three photograpsh were maked for identification and admitted as exhibits. Prosecution counsel made an application that the court be moved into private/closed session as all his other questions would potentially disclose the witness’s identity. Court went into private/closed session.