The first two witnesses who testified before the court over the shooting of Rumbek Catholic diocese bishop-elect, Christian Carlassare, yesterday differed on the number and identity of the alleged assailants.
The first witness in his presentation said that he saw two people, one tall and the other short, who were carrying guns. The tall man tried to shoot, but bullets only fell down, so he ran away, and the short and slim man continued shooting till he hurt bishop-elect on both lower legs.
“It was on April 26, 2021, at 12:30 am, I heard the sound of the gun within our compound, I woke up, came to my door and banged it three times. I heard a sound, calling for priests’ help. After hearing this, I opened my door and went to the place where there was shooting with a raised hand,” said Father Andrea Osman.
“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.
He said that they took Carlassare to the hospital together with suspect number one, who came later after the shooting incident.
The first witness said that there were four people in the compound. This suspect identified the phone that fell down as belonging to one of the assailants by specifying that it had a red battery inside, which was found to be true. He also identified a khaki trouser which he said belonged to one of the assailants.
He added that he was the first to come to the scene, and then Fr Luka followed him. However, he said the bishop-elect was wounded but did not have any fractured bones and that there had been no quarrel between any of them in the compound prior to the incident.
However, he could not identify the attackers because they had veiled their heads.
Another account
The second witness said that he saw only one assailant who was tall and carried the gun while he peered through the window. According to his statement, the tall guy tried to shoot, but the bullets fell down, and so he ran away on seeing him coming.
“It was on April 26, 2021, at 12:31 am that I heard the sound of a gun within the church. I woke up and sat on my bed. I heard the sound of a gun again and someone calling for priests. I peered through the window and saw a tall man wanting to shoot, but instead, the bullets fell down. Then I heard Father Andrea banging on his door three times and raising his voice, saying, “Why do you want to kill priests? Why do you want to kill the bishop-elect,” said the second suspect.
He agreed with the first witness that the phone was for one of the assailants and was in pieces with a red battery. He also could not identify the tall man with a white veil on his head.
He also agreed that suspect number 1 went with them to the hospital and was with them till the bishop-elect was flown to Juba and then to Nairobi.
The next hearing has been set for Friday at 10:30 a.m. by Judge Alexander Sabor Subek.
Victim speaks
A clip recorded by the Rumbek Catholic Diocese bishop-elect, Christian Carlassare, on Tuesday disclosed that he was attacked by two men on April 25, 2021, at a time he suspected to be “after midnight.”
Carlassare said a short man who had an AK47 shot him but he was not sure whether the latter had a gun as well.
“They were two in number, I had never seen them before and I can’t recognise them. I only noticed that one was tall, well built, with a white cloth around his cloak; the other was shorter and slender. I and Father Osman were standing before them,” said the Carlassare.
“While we tried to engage them in a conversation, I noticed that the slender guy was carrying an AK47. Suddenly, the slender guy stood in front of me, then he started shooting. I was immediately hit by some bullets in both lower legs. I decided to run into my room before they finished the bullets, they followed me, then they knocked their guns against my shoulder. I collapsed on the ground facing down.”