Trader admits to killing Timorese

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)