THE trial into the case of a man accused of the murder of a young man at Mbokona, Honiara last year continues today in the High Court.
The hearing started on Monday and will run for a week before Justice Stephen Pallaras.
Prosecution will call two more witness before possibly closing its case.
The key witness Chris Iro has given his evidence at the start of the prosecution case.
He told the court he saw the accused Emerald Abba whipped the back of the deceased’s head with a piece of timber.
Abba was accused of hitting the deceased’s head with piece of a timber on the night of February 17, last year at Mbokona.
Prosecution alleged that Abba hit the deceased’s back head with a piece of timber that caused injuries, resulting in his death.
The deceased died shortly after he was taken to the National Referral Hospital.
Iro said he was sleeping at the office he was working for at Mbokona on the night of February 17, 2013, when the accused called him on his mobile phone.
He said the deceased was walking up wards the Mbokona road and wanted him to get his bicycle as he was very drunk and unable to push the bike.
“I walked down and met Hansol opposite the Seventh Day Adventist (SDA) Church,” he said.
“He told me to push his bicycle, which he handed it over to me.
“We then walked up the road and encountered some dogs barking at us,”
Iro said the deceased called out for the owners of the dogs to restrain the dogs in case they bite them.
They continued walking up the road and met two other boys coming from the house where the dogs were barking.
Iro said the deceased told the boys to restrain the dogs or else he will kill the dogs.
He said after that they continued on walking along the road, when stones were thrown at them.
The court heard the accused swore at the stone throwers three times.
It was on the third occasion when the deceased swore that someone from within the accused’s area swore back at them.
Iro said the deceased then told the person who swore at them that he was swearing at the stone throwers and not at them.
“Hansol then went to the gate that led to the accused’s area and pushed the gate.
“The gate fell down and he went inside the area.”
When asked why the deceased went inside the accused’s area, Iro said because he was angry at the person who swore at them.
It was then, that a fight broke out.
Iro said he saw a group of people attacking the deceased.
It was then that Iro said he saw Abba jumped forward with a piece of a three by two timber less than a meter in length and whipped it at the back of Hansol’s head.
When asked about the lighting where the fight took place, Iro said there was a light coming from the light post close to where he was standing.
He said he was able to identify the accused because he was within where the light shone to apart from others that night that he can’t identify because they were in the dark.
Iro said he saw the deceased fell down after being hit with the timber and was attacked by the group of men while he was on the ground.
The witness said after the deceased stood up he went and tried to pull him out from the area.
“I went in, hold on to his shirt and told him to come with me.”
It was heard that whilst Iro was trying to get the deceased out of the area, the group inside the area threw rocks at him.
“I struggled to pull him but because of his weight he pulled me so I left him and went back to the gate because the group threw rocks at me.”
Iro said he came out of the gate and walked away, he looked back and saw the group coming out of the gate and continued attacking the deceased.
He then hopped on the bicycle and went back to the house to get his brothers.
By the time he returned after 20 minutes he said he did not see the deceased.
Another witness yesterday told the court he saw the deceased being pushed outside of the gate and fell.
He said the deceased was not moving but suspected he must have been unconscious as he was still breathing.
Michael Holara of Public Solicitor’s Office represented Abba while crown prosecutor Natalie Kesaka appeared for the state.
By ASSUMPTA BUCHANAN