Monrovia – Sitting in the far right corner of Criminal Court “A” at the Temple of Justice while decked in black coat, Michael Samukai listened attentively on the second day of his prosecution for attempted murder as the state produced witnesses with testimonies on the September 30, 2016 shooting incident at Tropicana Beach which left Zardee Andrew in a critical condition.
Report by Kenned L. Yangian [email protected]
Mr. Samuakai, who is the son of the Minister of Defense Brownie Samukai, is on trial on three-count multiple offences, aggravated assault, criminal attempt to commit murder and illegal possession of physical object.
His indictment has grown out of the September 30, 2016 shooting on the Tropicana Beach, in Thinker Village along the Roberts field Highway that left victim Zardee Andrew shot.
The indictment stated that defendant Samukai alleged that his wife, identified as Charlotte Samukai, was in extra marital affairs with the victim Zardee Andrew.
The first person to take the witness stand on Monday was police officer Jerry Wamba who told the court that the defendant, after the shooting incident on the beach, walked with the silver pistol and handed it to the Police Director.
He further stated that when defendant Samukai was turned over to the investigation, he admitted that there was a tussle over the pistol and it fired but fell short of saying whether he fired anyone but the investigation found that he did shoot Zardee Andrew.
“When the investigators asked him to produce record on the registration of the pistol, he did not produce any document,” said police officer Wamba who presented the silver pistol and bullets casing to the court as evidence for the prosecution.
The second witness, Jamesette Bernard, who claimed to be present on the beach when the incident took place on September 30, 2016 stated around 9:30 pm on the beach, two guys seemed to be in a tussle over a phone and one of them pulled out a pistol and showed it at the head of the other.
She said while going to inform her boss about the incident, she heard a gun go off and saw one of the guys wounded. Bernard said she cannot identify who fired the gun.
The case was adjourned and is expected to resume today at 10 a.m. but Judge Willie has fined the prosecution US$25.00 for failing to have its case in order when it sought the court’s request to subpoena the administrator of the JFK Hospital.
“In the opening of the court we realized that the problem we faced with the delay of cases is with the lawyers because they will come to court without witnesses and are ill-prepared to represent their clients,” said Judge Willie.
He continued that when the case commenced, the prosecutor should have told the court about its next course of action as it relates to the subpoena.