Trader admits to killing Timorese

DILI, East Timor (JP): A South Sulawesi migrant has admitted in court to stabbing a fellow trader from East Timor, stressing that he was provoked.

The killing of Mario Vicente by Mokhamad Sakir in the Becora market on Nov. 12 sparked three days of ethnic rioting with anti- government connotations.

Sakir, who is a Bugis descendant like many other migrant traders in Dili, is now being tried at the Dili District Court charged with the murder of Vicente.

He calmly responded to all questions from the judge.

At the trial on Wednesday, the defendant admitted committing the murder, but he explained that he lost his temper because of a series of acts of provocation by his next door neighbor Vicente.

He recalled that on Nov. 11 he came to his kiosk to find that his bird had been hurt and later he found out that Vicente was the culprit.

Vicente admitted that he had done it but the incident passed with only an exchange of angry words, the defendant said. "I backed out," he added.

The next day, the path to his kiosk was blocked by a huge table which he later found out was also put there by Vicente.

He did not try to confront Vicente there and then but decided to wait until the afternoon. But at around 2 a.m. he said he heard Vicente having a conversation in the local dialect, Sakir said.

"This made me lose my temper," he said. "I took out my spear and went up to him. I lost consciousness when I stabbed him." Immediately after the incident, he turned himself in to the police, he added.

The defendant said he hardly knew the victim though he had been trading in the market for some time.

They were introduced on Nov. 9, three days before the murder and there were no signs of enmity at the time, he added. (yac/emb)