BHUBANESHWAR, India - Two of the 12 men charged with the 1999 burning deaths of a Christian missionary and his two sons confessed three years ago that they were part of a gang of people who carried out the attack, a magistrate testified Monday during the trial.
It was the first public word that any of the suspects had confessed to the slayings of Graham Stewart Staines of Australia and his sons, Philip, 10, and Timothy, 8, who were burned to death by an armed mob Jan. 23, 1999 while they slept inside their vehicle in front of a church in eastern Orissa state.
Defense attorneys for the two defendants, Rabi Soren and Thoram Ho, told the court that investigating police had pressured them to make the confessions.
Appearing as a prosecution witness, Magistrate Ashok Kumar Agarwal testified that he recorded the confessions of Soren and Ho on May 18 and 21 in 1999.
According to the magistrate, Soren stated that a day before the crime he and Ho met with Dara Singh, the principal accused in the case, and about 30 other people. There, Soren said, a plan was hatched to attack Staines, according to the magistrate, whose job it was to take down confessions by people in police custody.
Soren confessed that the whole group went to Manoharpur and burned the two vehicles parked in front the church, Agarwal testified. The attack took place at Manoharpur, 235 kilometers (145 miles) north of Orissa state capital of Bhubaneshwar.
Agarwal said that Ho, in his confession, said that Singh had blown a whistle, signaling it was time to leave after the arson attack.
The magistrate said he had warned Ho and Soren that their statements might be used against them.