3:00PM: Court resumed in closed session while defense counsel Mr. Munyard continued the cross-examination of Expert Witness TF1-358. When court resumed in open session, counsel conpleted the witness’s cross-examination. The court then recalled the 82nd prosecution witness, whose cross-examination was suspended to give the defense team more time to research his evidence.
Cross Examination of TF1-358.
Cross-examination of the witness after lunch-breach started in closed session and court moved into open session only towards the end of the said cross-examination.
Counsel asked the witness whether he stood by his earlier statement that amputation was imported from the middle east and that it was foreign to Sierra Leone. Counsel asked the witness about his departure from Sierra Leone during the ARFC reign in Sierra Leone. The witness answered yes. The witness said he left the country in June 1997. He said that institution number 2 continued to function in his absence upto sometime in August 1997. He said that the international medical NGO with which he worked left Sierra Leone in December 1997. When asked about the treatment of patients from Alpha Jet bombings, the witnsee said he did not treat such patients prior to January 6, 1999.
Defense concluded the cross-examination of the witness. There was no re-examination and no questions from judges. Prosecution and defense both tendered documents that were marked for identification and admitted into evidence.
Court Recalls Witness TF1-579 for Cross-Examination
Courtenay Griffiths QC commenced the cross-examination of the witness.
Counsel first established that the witness was 17-18 years old when the war started in Liberia. The witness went to Ivory Coast with his family as a reult of the war. He said that he made the decision to join the NPFL voluntarily but for a reason. The witness agreed with counsel that his father was from the Gio tribe and that he worked at the immigrations department in Liberia. He agreed that during the reign of Samuel K Doe, he favoured the Krahn people more at the expense of the Gios. The witness agreed with counsel that when he joined the NPFL, he was joining a military organization and that there was a possibility of him losing his life. The witness said the he was trained for three months before he went to the frontline. When asked whether other recruits with whom he trained were forced, the witness said he could not tell because recruits did not see any reason to ask themselves those kinds of questions.
Counsel asked the witness whether he heard of Camp Nama. The witness said that he only heard of Camp Nama after he left his own training base and went to Bomie Hills in 1990. He said that he heard of a troop of fighters being trained there and were on standy-by to attack Sierra Leone. He said he heard that the fighters were all Liberians.
The witness agreed that he became bodyguard to a senior soldier in the NPFL after his training. He said that when he left Bomi Hills, he went to Gbarngha where he spent five years. His first assignment, he said, was with Benjamin Yeatan, then he was sent for training before he went to Taylor’s Mansion Ground in Gbarngha. After the 1997 elections that brought Taylor to power, the witness was reassigned as bidyguard to Taylor’s motorcade in Monrovia.
Court adjourned for the day.