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Giuliani tells of 9/11 horror
06/04/2006 20:34 - (SA)
Alexandria - Former New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani testified on Thursday at the death penalty trial of Zacarias Moussaoui that the full horror of the 9/11 attacks struck him when he saw people jumping to their death from the flaming World Trade Centre.
Prosecutors called Giuliani to the witness stand after telling jurors the "voices of the victims" of the 2001 strikes on New York and Washington would convince them to sentence the confessed al-Qaeda member to death.
Prosecutors also played video clips of people throwing themselves out of the World Trade Centre and close-up images of the hijacked airliners smashing into the towers, drawing gasps from the hushed courtroom.
Jurors watched the clips intently. Moussaoui, 37, stared at the screen, stroking his beard.
Defence lawyer Gerald Zerkin urged the jury meanwhile to reject the death penalty, saying the defence would prove Moussaoui had schizophrenia, was the victim of a difficult upbringing and had been indoctrinated by al-Qaeda. 'Mentally ill
He urged jurors "not to be fooled" by Moussaoui's apparent normal behaviour in court and said several specialists would testify he was mentally ill.
In harrowing testimony, Giuliani told how he saw people leaping to their deaths from the World Trade Centre - "one of the symbols of New York City".
"It must have come from the 100th floor, way, way up," he told the court. "I realised that I was watching this man throwing himself out. "I froze. I watched him come all the way down. "I realised that couple of seconds, I switched my thinking about things," he added, testifying next to a metre-high model of the World Trade Centre.
Giuliani said he told an aide: "We are in uncharted territory."
"Over the course of time, I saw several people jumping. I remember seeing two people, it appeared to me as though they were holding hands. "That one is probably the memory that comes back to me every day," he said. 'Burn in the USA'
As the court broke up for its morning break, Moussaoui chanted "Burn in the USA" to the melody of Bruce Springsteen's Born in the USA.
Giuliani later related how he had felt the "earthquake" when the first of the twin towers came crashing to the ground, and the hellish scene in the streets.
"It was horrid. It was the worst thing I have ever seen in my life," said Giuliani, who wore a dark suit, red tie, and spectacles.
"You could see parts of human bodies, hands and legs, a lot of injured ... this was a war, this was a battle, we were attacked. "This was a battle zone," said Giuliani who kept his composure despite his horrific evidence.
Spectators fell silent and some averted their eyes as prosecutors showed video of the tower falling, shouts of "Oh Shit" and "Oh my God" filling the silent courtroom from the film soundtrack. People 'vaporised'
The former mayor said he was told by the city's medical examiner in immediate hours after the attacks, that the aftermath would be horrific.
"Most people were vaporised, we are going to have to organise arrangements to identify people through stains and DNA," Giuliani said the officer told him.
Making the opening argument for the prosecution, Spencer told the jury, the "just verdict" in the case for "the families, the victims and the nation, the only punishment that fits the crime, is the death penalty."
The jury ruled on Monday that Moussaoui was eligible for the death penalty.
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