A defence lawyer yesterday accused Police of ignoring a potential suspect in the investigation of an attempted murder case.

The allegation was made during the Supreme Court trial of the 31-year-old David Dill of no fixed abode.

Dill has denied attempting to murder Dafyde Hermann Smith at his Second Avenue, Pembroke residence on April 15.

And yesterday under cross-examination by Dill's lawyer, Julian Hall, Det. Sgt.

Graham Ward conceded that Police had not gathered evidence from Dill's friend and Mr. Smith's neighbour, Leslie Wade, who was another potential suspect.

When asked if they had questioned Wade concerning the incident at Second Avenue, Det. Sgt. Ward said he had not.

"We did not identify him as one of the leading suspects,'' the officer said.

And when Mr. Hall pointed out that Wade's residence at the time of the incident was almost next door to the place where evidence linked to the crime was found and where a Suzuki motorcycle was stolen from and used as a getaway vehicle, Det. Sgt. Ward said he did not know this information at the time.

Mr. Hall questioned the thoroughness of the investigation, asking if there were any fingerprints found at 15 Second Avenue connecting the attempted murder of Mr. Smith with Dill.

Det. Sgt. Ward replied that there was none. He also confirmed that there were no fingerprints found linking anything in the house with Dill.

Mr. Hall asked why, because of Wade's history of break-ins coupled with violent assault, Wade's name did not come up as a suspect in the attempted murder case.

Det. Sgt. Ward admitted that at the time of Wade's arrest on April 16, Police were looking for Dill.

"He (Wade) dropped something from his hand which we thought was drugs,'' he said. "He was a passenger in a car. Both Wade and the driver were arrested.

He (Wade) was detained overnight.'' The 11-woman, one-man jury heard that after Wade was released on April 17 he called Det. Con. Ronald Green concerning the knife used in the incident.

According to Det. Con. Green and Det. Con. Trevor Knight, Wade confirmed that he had the knife used in the incident.

Det. Sgt. Ward told the court that he asked Wade to bring in the knife and that Wade wiped the fingerprints off the knife.

The next day Dill was arrested and Wade handed over the mud-covered brown handled knife with a silver blade.

Det. Con. Green testified that he sealed the knife in an evidence bag and handed it over to the Government analyst.

He also said after a telephone conversation with Wade, Dill -- who was in the interview room next door, said: "Someone's talking about the knife. I heard you talk about the tool. There's only one person that can give up the knife and if he gets three or $4,000 to give it up, he will hide for three or four days. Then he will get locked up and come up to Westgate and he'll be dead.'' But Mr. Hall questioned why Det. Sgt. Ward did not trace the call to find out where Wade was calling from. And Mr. Hall claimed that the officer risked contamination of the evidence by having Wade handle the knife to bring it to the Police Station.

Mr. Hall also asked why Det. Sgt. Ward did not tell Wade to leave the knife and allow the Police to come out to get it.

The officer said the caller was nervous about giving up the knife.

However, Det. Sgt. Ward admitted he did not initiate a search to find fingerprint evidence or soiled clothing at Wade's house that could have connected him to the incident.

Det. Con. Green told Senior Crown counsel Brian Calhoun that Dill requested cigarettes throughout the interview and that he supplied him with three Merit Ultra lights which Dill tore a small part off the ends before smoking.

He also said Dill left the butts and ashes in a wax paper cup. He said he then seized these items on Det. Sgt. Ward's orders and sealed them in an evidence bag for analysis.

Det. Con. Knight admitted that the procedure of taking the cigarette butts and the wax paper cup for DNA analysis, ordered by Det. Sgt. Ward, had not been done before that incident and had not been done since.

Also during yesterday's hearing Mr. Smith's neighbour, Christine Ricard, tearfully recounted what she saw on April 15, but she could not finish her signed statement.

The case resumes this morning before Puisne Judge Charles-Etta Simmons.

COURTS CTS