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Survivor Testifies In Pali Golf Course Shooting

Witness Says He Saw Defendant Retrieve Gun From Car

POSTED: 8:54 pm HST February 20, 2009

The only member of a rival gambling security group to survive a shooting unharmed at the Pali Golf Course in January 2004 testified in federal court on Friday about the events surrounding the attack.

The families of two men killed in a shooting at the Pali Golf Course are finally hearing what happened to their loved ones.

Families of lepo Taliese and Romelius Corpus Jr. went to federal court on Friday to hear something they have waited for the five years since the two were gunned down at Pali Golf Course.

"I feel good that the truth is coming out," Taliese's brother Moevao Utu said.

Testimony in the racketeering trial of two defendants is now coming from the targets of the shooting. Ethan "Malu" Motta and Rodney Joseph Jr. are charged racketeering and the slayings.

Nixon Maumalanga was the only one of the rival gambling security men to escape the golf course unharmed. Tino Sao was shot in the face and left for dead.

Maumalanga said on Friday that he drove to the golf course expecting a friendly meeting until Joseph refused to shake hands. As Tino Sao walked up to Motta, Maumalanga said, "I saw Malu (Motta) going into his car and coming out of his car with a gun in his hands… I ran for my life."

Maumalanga said he heard shots. He said he heard Taliese clearly name Motta and Joseph as his killers.

These eyewitness accounts are crucial to the prosecution's case because they make the shootings sound not like a confrontation, but like an ambush, KITV reported.

"I feel that he was totally innocent," Utu said. "They were unexpectedly gunned down… This is the moment I've been waiting for. I've I really want to know what happened and what really went happen."

Sao is scheduled to testify next week.

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