Church politics led to Carlassare’s shooting: witness tells court

The fourth witness in the case involving the shooting of the Bishop-elect, Christian Carlassare, has claimed that suspect number one, who was in charge of the Catholic Diocese before the Bishop-elect Carlassare came, masterminded the cleric’s attack. 

The witness claimed that he (suspect number one) started campaigning for Carlassare’s position all the way back in 2011, and conducted several meetings by mobilising the youth and other church members to petition Rome for him to be elected as the next Bishop since Rumbek Diocese had never had a South Sudanese bishop.

Testimonies

According to the witness, suspect number one told him that he would kill the bishop-elect if he was not elected the bishop and that he would kill this witness, who was the diocesan youth leader. He claimed that despite numerous trials to convince him not to “leave the church in ashes” as he said, he was dismissed by suspect number one and the youth’s office ended up shut.

However, when asked whether the impasse between him and suspect number one was solved, he testified that this had not happened till the incident happened, and he was sleeping in his house and did not have any evidence of whom the assailants were.

He also claimed that there was audio where the communication was tracked at night by the police and asked the court to request it from the investigator because he could not produce it before the court, although he was a CID officer.

The fourth witness claimed that all the suspects were relatives of suspect number one except suspect number three, whom he said was the driver of suspect number one and had been guarding him with a pistol when suspect number one went jogging every evening. However, no pistol was produced before the court.

The prosecution attorney, Peter Obang, closed the case to give way to the defence team and other proceedings.

But suspect number three said he would defend himself and did not want a lawyer anymore.

The defence attorney, Malith Jokthiang, called all the charges levelled against his client’s mere allegations, adding that the suspect who decided to defend himself had the right to do that because he was mature enough to make his decision.

He, however, noted that he (suspect number three, who decided to stand alone without a lawyer) had already been defended and nothing would be wrong with his decision.

“He has the right to defend himself, but already the defence has been made. Even by the time charges are framed, I am sure nothing will be levelled against him. Because of those allegations, let’s say he was a bodyguard, the prosecution team did not bring the gun, “Malith said. 

“He was not there at night; he was sleeping in his house. He never attended any meetings, all these, the police did not say anything about him. We have already given him all the legal advice that is necessary for him to deal with the court, so, there is nothing much.”

Court free and fair                                            

He stated that the court had been free and fair and that nothing fishy had been there so far since the court hearings began.

“There is nothing fishy, the court is free and fair, even the judge himself is aware.” We have educated the court about what the situation was in the church, “he stated.

The next court hearing will be on Monday to take the statements of the accused and those who, prima facie, have them, and then the defence will devise the defence mechanism.

“And even the relationship between the witnesses and the accused, the court knows. And that is our work, we educate the court to know exactly what the problem is, so, in all these sessions there is nothing fishy, the judge has been free and fair, the procedures have been followed, there was nothing wrong,” he concluded.

Third witness

Last week, the third witness claimed that he received a phone call from suspect number two, an hour after the incident, as they were attending to the wounded bishop-elect in Rumbek Hospital, asking how the situation was.

He added that he received a call from the same number but from a different person, asking him to pick up his phone, which had remained in the priests’ compound after the shooting.

“After two minutes, another call came from the same number and said, “My phone remained at the compound gate. “He said he came to rescue us, but I said I didn’t see you among us,” said the third witness.

The third witness knew all the suspects before, and when asked who the second caller was, he said he was suspect number six, who left his phone after the shooting because he had called him and introduced himself to him on the phone.

The suspect said he saw two assailants, but the shorter one was running so fast that he could not recognise him, while the second assailant was tall and carried a gun in his right hand. He maintained that he had not recognised who the assailants were.

Second witness

The second witness in the case said he saw only one tall assailant carrying a gun. He tried to shoot, but instead, the bullets fell down, forcing him to run away while he dotted towards where he heard gunshots.

He testified that the phone that remained in the compound had a red battery and most parts were set apart, but could not identify the tall man, who he said had a white veil on his head. He stated that suspect number two was with them when they were going to the hospital and stayed with them till the bishop-elect was flown to Juba and then later to Nairobi.

First witness

 “I saw two men, one was tall and the other was short. The tall one wanted to shoot, but the gun refused, so he ran away. The other one was still shooting at the bishop-elect who was standing at the door, and my hands were still raised. The short one saw Father Luka coming out of his fence and running away, and I ran after him, “he narrated.

When Carlassare was taken to the hospital, he said suspect number one joined them after the assailants had escaped. He identified the phone with the red battery and also identified a khaki trouser, which he said belonged to the assailants whom he saw.

The first and second witnesses said that the bishop-elect, Christian Carlassare, had not fractured bones and had no misunderstanding with anyone prior to the attack.

In the statement of the victim, Christian Carlassare, he said that the assailants were two but were not sure whether the tall assailant had a gun or not. But he confirmed that the short and slim assailant shot him.