Julian Washington has been found guilty by a jury of the premeditated murder of father-of-one Stefan Burgess following a Supreme Court trial.

Washington, 24, was also found guilty of attempting to murder a second man, using a firearm to commit an indictable offence and handling ammunition in connection to the 2012 shooting.

He now faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.

The jury had heard during the trial that Mr Burgess, 24, and Devano Bremer were among several friends attending a birthday party in a home on The Glebe Road on January 8, 2012, when a man wearing a dark helmet and clothing opened fire. The gunman then fled the scene, riding away on a waiting motorcycle.

Mr Bremer suffered a non-fatal gunshot wound to his groin but Mr Burgess was shot twice in the upper body. He was rushed to King Edward VII Memorial Hospital, but was pronounced dead on arrival.

Washington, from Grace Lane, Pembroke, was arrested in connection with the shooting the following day. The court head that particles associated with gunshot residue (GSR) were subsequently found on several items of his clothing, and he was listed as a likely contributor to DNA found on a spent cartridge at the crime scene.

Taking the stand in his own defence last week, Washington told the court he was “100 percent not guilty”. He claimed that on the evening of the shooting he had asked a friend to pick him up a meal from the Yardie Kitchen restaurant on The Glebe Road sometime between about 8.15pm and 8.30pm before heading down with a group for drinks at the Mid-Atlantic Boat Club.

He said he was told about the shooting at around 9pm and left the club shortly after. While he said the GSR component particles found on his clothing could have come from fishing equipment, he offered no explanation as to how his DNA could have gotten onto the cartridges.

Ebony Jones, a friend of the defendant, supported his alibi saying she bought him food from the restaurant on the night of the shooting, while defence lawyer Larry Mussenden dismissed the Crown’s evidence as “vague, weak and irrelevant”.

But prosecutor Garrett Byrne argued the defendant’s alibi was built on a foundation of lies, stating that Yardie Kitchen closed at 8pm on the evening of the shooting and noting that Ms Jones had only stepped forward as a witness the week of the trial.

During his closing speech, Mr Byrne told the jury: “Why is he trying to pull the wool over your eyes? Because he knows he has to come up with something to deflect you from the fact that at 9pm he was at number 60 Glebe Road committing these crimes.”

He also noted a video, which had been played for the jury, showing Washington handling what appeared to be a firearm, and an image found on the defendant’s phone which stated “Guns don’t kill people — I do”.

After around seven hours of deliberation, the 11-person jury found Washington guilty of handling ammunition by a unanimous verdict. A little more than an hour later, they found Washington guilty of the three more significant charges by a majority verdict of nine to two.

Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves remanded Washington into custody, ordering that he submit to a pre-sentencing social inquiry report.

Following the verdict Mr Burgess’ mother, Andrea Burgess, tearfully hugged family members and prosecutors while Washington was led to a waiting van.

Washington is not a stranger to the courts. In 2011, he and another man pleaded guilty to robbing a teenage girl of her motorcycle, allegedly striking her in the process. He was subsequently sentenced to 15 months in prison, but the Magistrate noted the seven months they had already served and suspended the remainder of the sentences.

He was also once the victim of a firearms offence. On August 9, 2010, Washington was shot and injured in the parking lot of the Mid-Atlantic Boat Club — an attack which allegedly triggered the murder of Troy ‘Yankee’ Rawlins half an hour later.