Tuesday, May 08, 2012

British pilot charged with murder of 13 people in Central African Republic

A British pilot has been charged with the torture and murder of 13 people on a remote wildlife hunting ranch that he helped manage in the Central African Republic. 


 David Simpson, 24, from Gillamoor, North Yorks, says he stumbled across the site of a massacre when he was working with colleagues to clear a new road through the bush six weeks ago.

He said the bodies had been hacked to death with machetes and burnt with scalding water by Joseph Kony's Lord's Resistance Army, which is known to operate in the area.

Mr Simpson originally reported that there were 18 people killed in the massacre, but military investigators found only 13 bodies.

But authorities in the country's capital, Bangui, who detained him soon after the bodies were found, said yesterday that he and his boss, Erik Mararv, a CAR-born Swedish national, had been formally charged with the murders.

Thirteen of their local staff stand accused alongside them.

A special judge will be appointed to assess the evidence and will then recommend the next course of action, which includes progressing to a full trial, said Firmin Feindiro, the CAR justice minister.

"They have already been interviewed once by the judge, and there will be another interview soon," he told The Daily Telegraph yesterday.

"This is an independent investigation that will gather evidence and decide what happens next. They have been charged with murder and torture of 13 people." Mr Simpson and Mr Mararv have been moved from the police cells where they had been held since late March to Bangui's central prison, where there are no beds, no mattresses, no clean water and very basic health facilities.

They could be held there for up to a year as the country's justice system investigates their case, Mr Feindiro added.

Mr Simpson said that he and his boss were being "framed" for the murders by people living in the nearest town to their hunting concession, some of whom were jealous at not being given jobs at the firm, or at having recently lost contracts there.

"It's pretty clear that the killings had nothing to do with us, but it helped some of the guys in town follow their own agendas to blame us," he said.

He has worked for Mr Mararv's company for two years as both general manager and as the chief pilot bringing wealthy clients to the firm's camps by light aircraft from the capital.

Brought up on a farm on the North Yorks Moors, he is the son of a well-known local farmer who breeds pheasants for shoots.

His brother, Paul Simpson, said that David was "remarkably upbeat" and that he felt that the developments suggested that there would soon be some momentum to his brother's case.

"He's actually quite relieved that there's some kind of progression, that they have finally formally accused them of doing it after so long not telling them anything," he said yesterday.

Emelie Mararv, who owns the big game hunting company with her husband, said that there was still some confusion over the next steps, but echoed that she was happy that there had movement in the investigation.

"It brings us a step closer to getting Erik and David out," she said yesterday from Sweden, where she had been meeting with the country's foreign ministry.

A spokesman for the Foreign and Commonwealth Office in London refused to comment on the developments, but added, "We are providing consular assistance and continue to monitor the situation closely."

Landlocked CAR still has some of Africa's most untouched wilderness areas.

Mr Mararv's company offers hunting safaris, offering clients the opportunity to shoot lion, giant forest hog and buffalo, among other species.

Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk

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