Tinoimalu Sao pointed to Ethan "Malu" Motta in a courtroom yesterday and identified Motta as the man who shot him in the face at the Pali Golf Course in 2004 in a dispute over who would provide security for illegal gambling operations.

"The shell went through my nose and shattered the lower part of my skull," said Sao, now 48 years old. "It's still in there, you know. They couldn't take it out. It kept moving. I can't breathe good. Sleep with a machine."

Earlier in the federal racketeering trial of Motta and Rodney Joseph Jr., jurors were shown a graphic photo of Sao in his hospital bed at The Queen's Medical Center following the shooting that left Lepo Utu Taliese and Sao's brother, Romilius Corpuz Jr., dead.

In the photo, Sao's left eye is swollen shut and there's a bullet hole in his nose, which is blotted with congealed blood.

Sao yesterday described efforts by Motta and Joseph to replace Sao and others in running security for various 24-hour gambling sites in Pearl City and on Young Street, Kapi'olani Boulevard, Kalakaua Avenue and elsewhere.

He recounted a July 30, 2003, attack at the Young Street site in which he said he was beaten with aluminum baseball bats and a stool, his head was slammed onto a table and he was hit on the head with a microwave oven.

Other members of the gambling operation, including the alleged owner, also were beaten and threatened over the next several weeks, Sao testified.

Sao calmly recounted how he and other members of their security detail ended up at the Pali Golf Course, where he, his brother and Taliese were shot.

But after nearly 90 minutes on the stand, Sao broke down in tears and placed his face in his hands when he was shown a photo of the bloody concrete bench where he saw his younger brother, "Junior" Corpuz, who had been shot in the back and in the back of the head.

As Sao wept for several moments, Judge Susan Oki Mollway ordered a recess.

Sao later returned to the witness stand.

"He couldn't breathe," Sao remembered. "He was gasping for air. ... I couldn't hold him up. He was falling."

A Honolulu police officer told emergency responders to put Sao in the ambulance first, but "I was telling him to help my brother. I was yelling, 'Help him. Help him.' "

Corpuz was already dead when Sao went into the ambulance, he said.

On Jan. 7, 2004, Sao attended the funeral for Raymond Gomes Sr. — the father of one of Sao's best friends, Raymond Gomes Jr. — at Hawaiian Memorial Park Mortuary in Kane'ohe. A man named Kevin "Pancho" Gonsalves kept interrupting Sao and Taliese as they ate after the service to talk about "expanding business to Maui," Sao testified.

Sao, Taliese, Corpuz and Gonsalves got into a van driven by another man and followed a black car with Motta and Joseph inside to the parking lot of the Pali Golf Course, Sao said.

Outside of their vehicles, Sao went over to shake Joseph's hand but "he had his hand in his jacket," Sao testified. "He wouldn't shake my hand."

So Sao tried to give Joseph a hug.

Joseph had a "punk attitude," Sao said. "He always had that, to me."

Sao then went over to the back of the black car to meet Motta in person after only speaking to him on the phone three or four times.

As Motta remained in the car he said, "Hey Tino, we finally meet," Sao said.

Motta then pulled out a gun with both hands and shot Sao in the face from a distance of about two feet, Sao testified.

Sao said he immediately put his hands to his face and felt his nose bleeding.

Asked by assistant U.S. attorney Thomas Brady to describe the sensation, Sao said, "Burn. Gunpowder. My nose, my jaw, whatever."

Prosecutors earlier alleged that Motta used the .22-caliber handgun and Joseph a .38-caliber gun in the shootings.

Sao testified that he passed out on the ground of the parking lot and when he awoke he heard yelling and the sound of a "soft, like muffled" gunshot and then two louder ones.