Log In

Reset Password

Jury hears evidence of phone calls by murder accused

The Supreme Court has heard evidence of phone records from the night of a 2017 murder, as the trial of Kiari Tucker continued.

Lauren Bell, an intelligence analyst with the Bermuda Police Service, said she reviewed phone data taken from Mr Tucker’s phone, which was seized the day after the murder of Morlan Steede.

She told the court that she noted several calls made before and after the November 3 shooting.

Ms Bell said that at 8.23pm, Mr Tucker’s phone called Clarke Fox, with the call lasting little less than a minute.

The call pinged off the Eve’s Hill mobile phone tower.

The next event recorded on the phone was a call made at 9.51pm, shortly after the shooting, to Troy Hewey, lasting 83 seconds.

However, Ms Bell accepted in cross-examination that earlier in the day there had been a more than two-hour period of inactivity on Mr Tucker’s phone, during which no one was killed.

Mr Tucker, 27, has denied the murder of Mr Steede, 35, along with the use of a firearm to commit an indictable offence.

The Supreme Court previously heard that Mr Steede was chased through the One Way Deepdale area of Pembroke and fatally shot that night.

CCTV footage played for the court showed Mr Tucker and others at Court Street on the afternoon of the shooting.

At that time, he wore a long-sleeved black jacket with a white zipper, black trousers with a white stripe and grey shoes with white soles.

The recordings showed Mr Tucker getting on the back of a motorcycle and being taken to One Way Deepdale before returning to Court Street, where he remained for several minutes before walking out of frame into the Elliot Street parking lot.

Footage subsequently showed a motorcycle with two men travel along King Street and on to Curving Avenue, coming from the direction of the Elliott Street parking lot.

CCTV footage from Deepdale appeared to show a figure in dark clothing and a helmet walking through the area at about 9.11pm.

At about 9.40pm, a man in black is seen chasing a man in a white shirt down One Way Deepdale and towards Parsons Road with flashes of light coming from the outstretched hand of the man in black.

Mr Tucker is then seen walking on to Court Street from Angle Street at about 9.53pm wearing a white T-shirt.

As the trial continued this week, Detective Constable Christopher Sabean noted that Mr Tucker appeared to be sweating when he returned, wearing a white T-shirt.

Under cross-examination, Mr Sabean accepted that several others seen on footage appeared to be sweating.

However, he said he did not believe Mr Tucker was sweating in earlier footage from that day.

“In my opinion, the defendant was not sweating, not glistening, in the day time,” Mr Sabean said. “Now, it is night out.”

Mr Sabean later said that Mr Tucker was the only person he saw to wipe his face with his shirt that evening.

The witness, however, accepted that while most of the people in the recording were wearing jackets, there were some wearing short-sleeved shirts.

“In November in the evenings, most people wear a light jacket,” Mr Sabean said. “Most, but not all. Some were wearing T-shirts. Not many.”

Mr Sabean said he could not identify the man in black from the Deepdale footage, and that he did not see the man after he chased the man in the white shirt on to Parsons Road.

He also said that while he did spot some white on the individual’s midriff, he did not see any white on the gunman’s shoes.

The trial continues.

It is The Royal Gazette’s policy not to allow comments on stories regarding criminal court cases. This is to prevent any statements being published that may jeopardise the outcome of that case