Hearing on the murder case in relation to the murder of a man at Lungga, East Honiara in 2010 continues today.
Prosecution will be calling its third witness in the trial before Justice Francis Mwanesalua.
The accused Aaron Konle allegedly used an object to hit the deceased’s head and when the deceased was unconscious carried him to the Lungga
River bank and threw him into the river.
The allege murder incident occurred between 12 midnight and 1.30am of May 23, 2010 at Tamone settlement at Sun Valley around the Lungga area.
Prosecution key witness has told the court he saw accused hit the head of the deceased with an object and has asked another man to help him carry the deceased to the river bank.
He said he heard the accused told the deceased to help him carry the dead man to the river.
The witness who was 12 years of at that time of the alleged incident said he followed the police officers, the accused and Bentley who were chasing the deceased.
He said the police officers of which one is a RAMSI officer stopped the chase when the deceased continued running further.
He saw Aaron and Bentley continued with the chase and then Aaron jumped on top of the deceased grabbed his neck, threw him down on the ground and hit his head with an object.
The witness said he was standing at the bottom of a banana plant and saw everything.
During the cross-examination the witness denied lying to the court as put to him by the lawyer representing the accused.
He told the court that he was there at that time of the alleged incident and saw what had happened that night.
Prosecution alleged he hit the forehead of the deceased using an object that caused him to lose consciousness, and immediately after that he deliberately carried him with the help of his brother to the end of the Lungga river bank and threw him into the water.
The deceased’s body was found floating in the river near where the body had been dumped earlier, by one of the villagers between 6am and 8am that same day.
Earlier on in the evening of May 22, a religious program was held at Tamone and the deceased and his three brothers and their father were drinking at their family’s house close to where the program was held.
An argument then broke out between them relating to their brother in-law and some villagers intervene to stop them since it was disturbing the fundraising program.
It was alleged that the defendant’s brother who was a police officer was asked to call the police.
He did called the police according to the prosecution case a police patrol team was dispatched to the area.
RAMSI police officers and local police attended the scene and arrested the deceased’s two brothers for disturbing the program.
The deceased however escaped police arrest and was running away when he chased and attacked by the accused.
By ASSUMPTA BUCHANAN
