Murder accused Wolda Gardner would take a gun to work and claimed he could make people “disappear”, the Supreme Court has heard.

A former friend of the defendant, who is now in witness protection, told the jury that Mr Gardner kept the weapon in a toolbox or in their truck.

“We had a big silver box where we kept tools, like a lockbox. Some days he would put it there, some days in the truck,” he said.

Mr Gardner, 34, and Rickai Dickinson, 29, deny the premeditated murder of George Lynch, 40, a Jamaican who was gunned down in Hamilton Parish on May 5, 2010. They also deny using a firearm to carry out the offence.

The 31-year-old witness told the jury he befriended Mr Gardner while living in St George’s in 2009.

He said he helped Mr Gardner to get a job alongside him at Tynes Bay in 2011 and that they worked together for “two or three months”.

The witness said that whenever a news report came on the radio, the accused “would run to the truck to listen” and that he was “interested in anything to do with firearms, anything to do with St George’s”.

He told the jury they went for lunch one day in Hamilton and afterwards got into an argument, but he could not remember what this was about.

They calmed down and started driving towards St George’s but another dispute broke out when they reached Flatts and Mr Gardner “punched me in the mouth”.

The witness said the accused told him he could make him “disappear” and that he later showed up at his house with a pistol.

Defence lawyer Charles Richardson highlighted inconsistencies in the witness’s evidence and his statement to the police.

He asked the witness if he and Mr Gardner had argued because the latter had criticised him for being drunk that day and because he was a drug addict who owed people money.

“I don’t recall,” he answered.

Mr Richardson then asked the witness if Mr Gardner punched him because he made a racial slur.

“I don’t recall,” he replied.

“You’ve conveniently said you forgot what happened. But you remember what he said 15 minutes later?” asked Mr Richardson, referring to the witness’s claim Mr Gardner said he could make him disappear.

“You don’t want anyone to know what you said,” Mr Richardson added.

The witness said: “I didn’t say that [slur], I wouldn’t be that stupid. He did punch me in the mouth, after this he took and bought me a drink because he felt bad.”

“That’s the first time you’ve said that,” Mr Richardson replied. “You haven’t said that to the police. That’s not true either, you’re making it up.”

Mr Richardson also questioned the witness’s claim Mr Gardner took a gun to work.

“If this silver case was true you would have said so to the police,” the lawyer said. “Nowhere in the statement you gave to police do you mention anything about a silver case. You recently invented that.”

Mr Richardson also refuted the claim Mr Gardner went to the witness’s house with a firearm.

“That never happened,” the lawyer said. “That’s why you didn’t tell the police.”

He also claimed the pair worked together at Tynes Bay for only three weeks rather than two or three months.

The witness admitted to Mr Richardson he used to be addicted to crack cocaine but said he went to rehab in the US in 2012.

“I never had to lie or steal,” he told the jury.

The lawyer asked him about the foreclosure of his family’s home in St George’s and his wife losing two jobs in succession.

He suggested that one of the “benefits” of being in witness protection was “any financial obligations are dealt with”.

“You have been assisted in relocating to another country and they have been assisting you with living expenses?” Mr Richardson asked. “It’s a fresh start?”

“It’s not as easy as starting a new life,” the witness replied. “It’s been difficult, we can’t work. It’s the equivalent of being on welfare.”

Yesterday the jury also heard of several posts made by co-accused Rickai Dickinson on his Facebook page in the days and weeks following the shooting.

A number of the status updates, which were read out in court, made reference to “snitches”, with Mr Dickinson claiming that one suspected police informant “needs to be buried up to his neck in sand and stoned to death. LOL”.

The trial continues.