YOU’LL DIE FOR TELLING LIES, ‘THISDAY BOMBER’ THREATENS WITNESS

The trial of the suspected bomber of ThisDay newsapers’ office in Kaduna, Mustapha Umar, took a new dimension yesterday with a threat by the suspect that one of the witnesses in the case would die for telling lies.

The four witnesses that were called in the case yesterday wore mask to protect their identities.

The first witness, who refused to give his real name, but was named Ismail by the court and marked PW1, said he was at the scene when the accused threw the bomb that exploded and killed about three persons in the building where the newspaper and two others were located.

Before the court started taking evidence from the witnesses, the accused asked the witness to remove the mask on his face to identify him.

But the court ruled otherwise.

The witness in his evidence said, “On April 26, 2013, at about 10am, I was passing through Kontagora Road in Kaduna, and I saw people gathered and I moved close to them to find out what was going on.

“I later saw a Honda car running towards the building and when it finally stopped, the crowed that had gathered rushed toward the car to rescue the occupant. It was in the process of rescuing him that we discovered that he had a bomb on him and the car was also wired with camp gas cylinder”.

At this point of the evidence of the witness, the accused interjected and said in Hausa language that the witness would lose his life for telling lies against him.

Umar was accused of bombing SOJ Plaza in Kaduna occupied by ThisDay, The Moment and the Sunnewspapers.

At the last hearing of the case, the suspect was represented by Mr. Felix Umai and Mohammed Umar, both from Manga Chambers in Abuja,

He, however, had to change counsel as he was represented yesterday by Sulaiman, who told the court that he was just briefed Monday.

But before the adjournment, the prosecutor, Simon Labaran, had asked the court to hear his application to exclude members of the public except the press and the parties in the case, from witnessing proceedings.

The trial continues today.

Source: Blueprint