Murder accused Leroy Symons stabbed his father six times when he was a teenager almost killing him, defence lawyer Jerome Lynch QC told a jury.Speaking in the Supreme Court trial of the 21-year-old who is accused of murdering Shane Minors along with his half-brother Ronniko Burchall, 22, Mr Lynch said Mr Symons had a violent past. “What we actually know about him from what we have in front of us. He used to sell crack and weed for the 42 gang. He was known as ‘Young Money’ and flips weed if he needs money.“At the time he told us in his first interview he was taking crack-cocaine at Christmas 2009. He beat up his girlfriend and baby momma and threatened her and that is why they didn’t spend Christmas together.“When he was 14 he stabbed his father six times almost killing him,” continued Mr Lynch, who is representing Mr Burchall. Mr Symons and Mr Burchall have both been charged with the fatal shooting of Mr Minors outside his lower level apartment on December 17, 2009. Mr Burchall alone faces an additional charge of using a firearm to commit an offence. Both men deny all charges.Yesterday in closing speeches, Mr Lynch described his client’s brother as a “perennial liar” who will say anything to save himself. “That is the man you are being told both by the prosecution and the defendant to believe. I suppose we have only touched the tip of the iceberg but we won’t go there.”Prosecutor Robert Welling told jurors, however, to disregard witness attempts to paint Mr Burchall as a “clean-cut young man” who was “hard-working”.Mr Welling said: “This is a man who was given the opportunity to further his career. All he had to do is enrol in GED for the September term by November 2,2009 and he didn’t do it.“And he tried to wriggle on that point [and said] ‘they didn’t say they meant that’, but he had been caught out in a lie.”Mr Welling told the jury that instead of taking part in a GED programme, Mr Burchall “was hanging with Middle Town members who are associated and aligned with Parkside [gang]”.He said Mr Burchall, had links to several shooting victims and wanted to “avenge what happened to Yankee his godfather and avenge the death of Gary (Fingaz) Cann.”Mr Cann was fatally shot on December 15, 2009 outside a home in Sandys. The next morning Troy (Yankee) Rawlins was shot at on Court Street.The trial heard Mr Minors was not involved in gang activity, however, his brother Shaki Minors was allegedly connected to the 42 gang. Mr Lynch questioned why the idea of revenge had only been mentioned in opening and closing arguments rather than through the course of the trial. According to Mr Welling, Mr Burchall was an “aider and abbeter” to the crime. The trial heard Mr Burchall approached his brother asking for the address of Shaki Minors.Mr Symons willingly “showed him how to use the safety [on the gun] and showed him the way to the back of the premises”, said Mr Welling. Apart from a few minor variations, the prosecutor said Mr Symons had been consistent in his interviews with police. Mr Lynch said there were in effect two trials happening right now one for his client Mr Burchall and another for Mr Symons. “You must consider each count separately and each defendant separately,” he added.He criticised Mr Symons, represented by defence lawyer Shade Subair, for not looking up and maintaining a lengthy silence before entering a not guilty plea for the offence. He also condemned him for not speaking in his own defence. “There is no substitute for taking those few steps there from that box to the stand there and telling you himself. Imagine you are charged with murder and you are not going to take the stand and say ‘Not me’?“He didn’t go in there because he knew the minute he went in there he would have to answer to questions from me and he didn’t think he would be able to stand up to his story which wasn’t true.”Jurors yesterday heard that there was a “golden hour” between the time a crime was committed and optimal time needed to gather evidence for the investigation. “A whole five hours [went by] before the police were informed and anyone even knew [about the murder] and police had been called. In that five hours clothes can be burned and hidden, alibis can be set up and stories can be [created].”Mr Welling also said it wasn’t until January 12 that the first suspect Mr Symons was detained by the police and said: “this is a case that hinges upon confessions.”He told the jury to consider evidence provided by informant Andrew Laws who told the court Mr Burgess had confessed to him about being the shooter. Mr Welling said Mr Laws, who was addicted to drugs and living in a tent at the time of the alleged confession, had risked everything in order to testify in this case.The case continues today.