The afternoon session started with the continuation of cross examination of a witness by the defense attorney. The witness told the court that he used to work for Chuckie Taylor’s mother and it was through the mother that he came in contact with the defendant. He spoke of him and Chuckie’s first meeting and how he showed up unannounced to Chuckie’s house on the instruction of Chuckie’s mother. He remarked how Chuckie was angered at first at his surprise visit but later calmed down when Chuckie learn that his mother had sent the man over to work for Chuckie as his driver. Chuckie hired the man and paid him about $150 a month. The witness testified that he drove Chuckie around to various places such as the club, friends’ home, and the Gbatala base. The witness explained that as Chuckie’s driver he was always on call and that he spent so much time with Chuckie that he basically lived with him. The witness testified that he remembered taking Chuckie over to the base on three occasions and that each time he did, there were guns in the car. Defense counsel was sure to point out to the court that Chuckie Taylor was the son of the President of Liberia, insinuating the guns were there for protective measures due to his status.
The witness testified that he never was allowed unto the actual base and understood his role as just the driver and that he was to stay with the car until Chuckie was ready to leave the base. The witness testified that from the distance of the car he did see women cooking in the cafeteria and men doing carpentry work around the base. The defense attorney kept asking the witness whether the people he saw working on the base appeared to be civilians. The witness replied that he couldn’t tell for sure but maybe. The defense attorney asked the witness, did Chuckie Taylor ever give him money for personal needs? The witness said that yes, he suffered from chronic phenomena and Chuckie gave him between $175-200 to get treatment to cure it.
On re-direct the prosecution asked the witness, did Chuckie have additional drivers? The witness said yes, there were two other drivers who were military. The prosecuting attorney then asked the witness; did he ever enter the base? The witness replied in the negative. The prosecuting attorney then asked why. The witness replied that he was not allowed, Chuckie told him that he were to wait by the car and that he knew that if he did anything different, there would be problems. The prosecution had no further questions for the witness and the witness was dismissed.
The second witness to appear on the stand was Mr. Sieh. He explained to the court how he first got involved with the defendant. He told the court that a man by the name of Seefah Norma (caution: name possibly misspelled) recommended him to be a soldier for the demon forces. He was told that the leader would be Chuckie Taylor and his job would be to guard the President or his immediate family. The witness went on to testify that initially he reported to Chuckie’s house several times and that Chuckie would come out the house and speak to him and the other recruits. He said, Chuckie told them that they would be well taken care of and paid well. The witness was then asked to identify Chuckie Taylor in the court room and he did so.
The witness then went on to tell the court about the Gbatala base and how he was trained there from 1998-1999 and graduated on December 15, 1999. The commander of the base was named David Campari and he was described as a huge man. The deputy of the base was name Mack and he was described as being small. The witness informed the court that initially upon his arrival on the base; it was still going though revision and that he and other recruits worked on finishing the base by digging holes, cutting bushes, and building structures. A picture of a structure was then put on display for the court depicting a building by the name of: “College of Knowledge”. The witness said that he and other recruits built the building depicted in the picture. The witness then told the court that at the base, he was given a mattress, eating utensils, and civilian clothes. It wasn’t until they started training that they received their camouflage uniforms. The witness was asked about the trainers that trained them as soldiers and a picture was shown to the court that showed two of the trainers who were white men. The witness said that he was trained on assembling and disabling arms, anti-tracking (determining foot prints and the number of men who passed through the path), battle craft, tactics, use of an AK 47, and rocket propelled grenades. He told the court that they were never trained on the Geneva Convention and that Chucky Taylor supplied ammunition to them on the base.
The witness said that, Monday- Fridays they were trained and the weekends were suppose to be the days they rest and wash their clothes but that in reality they worked around the base and built buildings on those days. The witness told the court that he and other recruits built “The Village” which was one of the prison compounds on the base that held prisoners of war, some were civilians and some were military. He explained that the prison was built on swampy land and they were basically holes covered with sticks and thatches. He said they build about 20 holes and they were about five to six feet, wet holes due to the rain and it being on swampy land. He told the court that it took about three months to build the village.
The witness then informed the court that the MP Headquarters was another place that prisoners were held. He said this place had actual cells and housed recruits who committed minor crimes. He explained to the court that MP stood for: Military Police and those were recruits who were appointed by Campari.
The witness told the court that during his time on the base, the unit name was changed from demon forces to ATU (Anti-Terrorism Unit) with Chuckie Taylor still as the leader. The new name came with a change in uniform. The uniforms were no longer just the familiar green and brown camouflage color but black tiger stripe uniforms. These new style of uniforms were worn by the solders, Chuckie, and his body guards. He then told the court how the force grew from 75 men to much more and that the new recruits came from NPFL and Sierra Leone.
The witness was asked about a recruit by the name of Prince De Shaun (name might be misspelled) and how his training was cut short on the base when he was arrested. The witness told the court how initially, Prince was held in the village but later was held in the MP headquarters. The witness informed the court that Prince was held in prison up until the time Sieh graduated from the base and that Prince was often beaten, creamed ( naked body covered in mud), dragged, and billied. Billied is a term used for toting a heavy log on your shoulders and running in circles which created sores on the shoulder. The witness told the court that when a person was billied, he was naked and told to run in circles up until Campari told them to stop. The witness said that Chucky Taylor was present during the times that these types of things took place.
The witness spoke of the time when Prince escaped from prison but was re-captured. He explained how Campari assembled all the soldiers together and explained that punishment for smoking, stealing, escaping, etc would be dragging. He told how Prince was creamed (disrobed and covered with mud), on his back with both his legs held by the soldiers and dragged a long distance (witness said from the witness stand to outside the court two times) across the road. The witness explained how he saw blood left on the road from the dragging and that the body was covered in blood.
Mr. Sieh told the court that the base was not open to the public and that the soldiers were not allowed to go and come as they pleased. He explained that the only civilians that were allowed on the base were cooks.
Mr. Sieh spoke on the different deployments but then the court was adjourned for the day at 4:30.
THERE WILL BE NO TRIAL THURSDAY, OCTOBER 9, 2008. TRIAL WILL CONTINUE FRIDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2008 FROM 9:00 AM TILL 3:30PM
After the jury was dismissed for the day, the prosecution explained the purpose of having the witness testify on the deployment of the Guinea Liberia border to which defense counsel vehemently objected. Upon the State explanation, the judge will allow the witness to testify to it on Friday.
Defense counsel became upset and told the court that the prosecution is moving past the indictment and distancing the case from torture. He wanted the testimony of Mr. Sieh stricken from the court record and to have the jury disregard it or declare a mistrial. He argued that he was only given the name of the witness but never informed that he would testify on the discipline of military soldiers and that this was out of context and that he was not given proper notice and as a result could not adequately defend his client on these allegations.
The judge disagreed with him and will have the witness continue with his testimony and not have it stricken with the record.
0 Responses to “10-08-2008: Afternoon session: 2-4:30pm”