This Aug. 23, 2011, file photo, shows Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales during an exercise at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin, Calif. Bales, a U.S. soldier charged in the killing of 16 Afghan villagers, pleaded guilty in June in a deal with prosecutors to avoid the death penalty.JOINT BASE LEWIS-MCCHORD, Washington – An Afghan farmer shot during a massacre in Kandahar Province last year took the witness stand Tuesday against the U.S. soldier who attacked his village, cursing him before breaking down and pleading with the prosecutor not to ask him any more questions.
Haji Mohammad Naim appeared Tuesday in the courtroom at Joint Base Lewis-McChord south of Seattle, where a sentencing hearing began for Staff Sgt. Robert Bales in the slayings of 16 civilians killed during pre-dawn raids on two villages on March 11, 2012.
The hearing afforded some victims and relatives their first chance to confront Bales face-to-face.
With a thick gray beard, a turban and traditional Afghan dress, Haji Mohammad Naim testified in his native Pashto through an interpreter, speaking loudly and quickly and frequently waving a finger in the air. He pointed to where he was shot in the cheek and neck.
“This bastard stood right in front of me!” he said. “I wanted to ask him, ‘What did I do? What have I done to you?’ … And he shot me!”