Overview:
Martine Moïse’s testimony within the assassination trial of President Jovenel Moïse is underneath scrutiny as prosecutors argue her account has remained constant since 2021.
In a Miami courtroom this month, testimony concerning the assassination of Haitian President Jovenel Moïse returned to the night time that shook Haiti and the Haitian Diaspora.
Martine Moïse, the previous first girl who survived the July 7, 2021, assault, described what she noticed and heard contained in the couple’s Port-au-Prince residence. Protection attorneys challenged her credibility, questioning her reminiscence and suggesting inconsistencies in her account.
Prosecutors argued that her account has remained constant for the reason that quick aftermath of the killing. They pointed to a July 9, 2021, FBI interview performed days after the assassination, saying her statements then align along with her testimony in court docket.
Editor’s notice: The next responses are excerpted from court docket testimony and have been edited just for size and minor punctuation.
What woke Martine Moïse?
Q: And I wish to now flip to July seventh, 2021. As you’re sleeping after going to mattress at 10:00 p.m., what time have been you woke up?
A: Round 1 o’clock within the morning I used to be woke up by gunfire.
What did President Moïse say?
Q: So what did he say to you?
A: I wakened and I mentioned, “Honey, what’s occurring? What occurred?” He mentioned, “Honey, we’re lifeless.”
What did she do along with her kids?
Q: What occurred subsequent?
A: After that I crawl on all 4, went to see the place the youngsters have been as a result of I used to be making an attempt to keep away from them from coming as much as see what was occurring.
Q: What occurred if you go into the room and also you see them?
A: I instructed them to go to the lavatory as a result of the lavatory had no home windows.
Did she return upstairs?
Q: So, after you go and also you examine in your kids and also you return upstairs, may you speak to us about what you have been listening to as you return upstairs?
A: I heard lots of gunfire. And the identical manner I went down is identical manner I went again up, a number of gunfire.
Did the attackers enter the bed room?
Q: Mrs. Moïse, you’re listening to this gunfire and you are attempting to make use of the mattress as cowl. Do individuals finally come into your room?
A: Sure, individuals got here in as a result of I heard a loud noise just like the door went “bow,” and I felt my physique going like this underneath the mattress.
What language have been the intruders talking?
Q: Now, what language are these individuals talking?
A: They have been talking in Spanish.
What did she hear them say?
Q: In order that they rummage, after which they’re trying and describing the areas round. What else do you hear?
A: I heard them talking. I may not understood what they have been saying, however I caught two names: Jefe and Pibe.
Q: Mrs. Moïse, had you ever heard the identify Pibe earlier than?
A: No, that is the one time I heard it. I by no means heard it earlier than, and I by no means heard it after.
What occurred after she was shot?
Q: What occurs after you’re shot a number of occasions?
A: After I end form of letting him know that I used to be nonetheless alive and that I had not died, I don’t know in the event that they have been in search of one thing within the bed room and so they lastly discovered it. I heard somebody giving his description who answered to him. And routinely, proper there after which, the individual that was standing at his toes shot him. It’s the exact same sound I heard whereas I used to be being shot.
The place within the room did this occur?
Q: So, Mrs. Moïse, if you stroll into the room, what facet of the mattress is your husband on?
A: He’s on this different facet.
Q: And for the document, that’s the proper facet of the mattress?
A: Sure. Should you stand in entrance of the mattress, it is going to be in your right-hand facet.
What did she do after being shot?
Q: What occurs after that?
A: After that, I closed my eyes. I didn’t open them once more, however I may hear the people who have been inside the home strolling all around the home.
What did the attackers do to her?
Q: What, if something, was carried out to you earlier than that?
A: Earlier than they left, I felt somebody grabbing my leg. That individual pulled me and flipped me on my again, and I felt a flashlight in my eyes.