Songwriter Matthew Clarke was found dead in bed with 26 stab wounds and severe head injuries, Supreme Court has heard.

Prosecutor Rory Field told the trial of three men accused of the murder that at least two of them inflicted the stabs and blows.

"Matthew Clarke was an able-bodied young man. He seems to have been killed on his bed in a way where he was not able to get off the bed. One can tell this by the way the blood was found. He was not able to deliver any defensive blows," he claimed yesterday.

The three defendants are Vernon Simons, 23, of North Street, Pembroke, Shannon Tucker, 32, of Middle Road, Southampton, and Kyle Sousa, 18, of Adams Lane, Warwick. They all deny murdering Mr. Clarke at his home in North Shore Road, Pembroke, on the afternoon of April 9 last year.

Before the trial got underway and while the pool of potential jurors was present in court Sousa and Simons attempted to plead guilty to a lesser charge of being accessories to the crime after the fact. Those pleas were rejected by Mr. Field, who is the Director of Public Prosecutions.

Nine women and three men were then picked for the jury, and the trial of all three men for murder commenced. In his opening speech, Mr. Field said 31-year-old Mr. Clarke was found dead by the mother of his children around 3.30 p.m.

"She entered the room. He was lying on the bed on his back, and almost immediately it would have been clear to her that there had been foul play because there were gashes on his head. She was upset, obviously, and ran to Granny's Restaurant, which was very close by, for help," he explained.

An ambulance and Police were called but the victim had no pulse and was pronounced dead on arrival at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital. He was later found to have suffered a total of 26 stab wounds to his throat and chest and deep lacerations to his forehead inflicted by a knife.

In addition, he'd suffered "blunt impact" injuries to his head and brain from at least nine impacts from a metal bar, according to Mr. Field.

The prosecutor claimed Tucker's blue truck was seen in the driveway of Mr. Clarke's house before the murder. He alleged that the three men travelled there together in that vehicle to commit the crime.

He also explained that the three accused men knew each other and their relationships may be an issue of importance.

"Shannon Tucker was the boss in the business sense of the word. You may come to the conclusion that he was the boss in other matters as well," he said.

He added that Simons worked for Tucker, and Mr. Clarke also worked for Tucker in the past. He said Simons knew the victim although Sousa may not have done.

Mr. Field alleged that Simons and Sousa took a bag down to a pond near Simons' home, which is near the Transport Control Department in North Street, shortly after the killing.

"That bag contained a metal bar that is consistent with the head injuries of Matthew Clarke. It also contained rocks to weigh it down so it would not be found," he said. The bag was recovered from the pond by investigators.

The jury was told to expect evidence of how Simons and Sousa showered and cleaned themselves up and their clothes were disposed of afterwards.

Mr. Field suggested the trio had only a narrow window of time to carry out the attack, with no time for discussing their intentions at the scene.

"You may think they went for a very specific reason, either to kill Matthew immediately or kill Matthew if he did not respond to some pre-existing demand," he said.

Sousa, Tucker and Simons are charged under the legal principle of joint enterprise. Mr. Field explained that although each may have carried out different roles in the attack, the law says each man is equally responsible if they acted together.

Mr. Clarke's room was at the back of his mother's home on North Shore and had a separate access to the main house. The jury was shown photographs of the property by crime scene examiner Jewel Hayward which showed blood spattered on the walls and the "makeshift ceiling" of the victim's bedroom. They also showed sneaker footprints in a flower bed outside the house and on a tiled walkway.

Detective Constable Hayward said the investigation involved taking fingerprints and swabs. He visited a home in North Street, Pembroke, the day after the incident and collected a piece of wood attached to a doorway and a butcher's block with a number of knives missing.

The case, which is expected to last up to six weeks, continues.