A Bukit Aman Special Branch officer told the High Court in Kota Kinabalu today that he saw the bodies of three policemen when he took a peek out a window to check on the situation outside after a skirmish at Kampung Sri Jaya, Simunul, in Semporna last year.

ASP Azra Nursaffree Ramli said he was trapped in a house, with number 25, at the water village with two fellow policemen and two others (an elderly woman and her daughter) for nearly 15 hours when he decided to check if the situation outside was calm.

He said it was on March 3 last year that he looked out of the window facing house number 27, where he had seen flashes of light, believed to be where repeated gunshots were fired from at about 7.30pm the night before, and saw the bodies, which were in a gruesome state, some 10 metres away.

“One was on the verandah (of house number 27), which I believed to be the late Sergeant Baharin Hamid, with his head severely injured.

“A General Operations Force (GOF) personnel was on his stomach with his hands behind him and his head missing, and another GOF personnel was floating in the water beneath house number 27 with his head severely injured,” he added.

Azra Nursaffree also said he saw two bodies of the intruders, one floating in the water beneath house number 27 and another in front of it.

Questioned by deputy public prosecutor Mohd Dusuki Mokhtar whether he contacted Bukit Aman when he saw the bodies, the witness replied: “Yes”.

He also told the court that he and the two policemen who were trapped in the house were rescued that afternoon at about 6pm and taken to the Semporna Hospital.

The elderly woman and her daughter were also rescued, but he did not know where they were taken to.

Earlier, the court took a short break to allow the witness to calm himself after he became emotional when answering questions posed to him.

Witness was stammering

Azra Nursaffree was stammering when recalling hearing gunshots on the evening of March 2 last year when the late Baharin ran to house number 27, from house number 25, to arrest an individual known as ‘Imam Tua’ who was believed to be involved in the Lahad Datu intrusion in February last year.

This prompted Justice Stephen Chung to ask the witness whether he was fine and Mohd Dusuki requested for a short break.

Thirty accused, comprising 27 Filipinos and three local residents, are being tried in the case, in which some are facing multiple charges of being members of a terrorist group or waging war against the Yang di-Pertuan Agong, recruiting members for a terrorist group or willfully harbouring individuals they knew to be members of a terrorist group.

They allegedly committed the offences between Feb 12 and April 10 last year.

The hearing held at the Sabah Prisons Department continues tomorrow.

- Bernama