Friends of murder victim George Lynch saw a suspicious motorcycle riding through their neighbourhood moments before the Jamaican national was gunned down, Supreme Court heard yesterday.

Mr Lynch, 40, was fatally shot on the evening of May 5, 2010, while drinking with friends outside a neighbour’s home on Midland Heights Crescent, Hamilton Parish.

Wolda Salamma Gardner, 34, and Rickai Tessfer Dickinson, 29, have both denied the premeditated murder of Mr Lynch, and using a firearm to commit an indictable offence in connection to the killing.

Opening the Crown’s case, senior prosecutor Carrington Mahoney said the murder stemmed from an incident months earlier when a group of men from St George’s attacked Temasgan Furbert at his Hamilton Parish home. Several men were arrested and charged in connection to the attack, and later brought to trial in Supreme Court.

One of the prosecution witnesses in that trial was Philmore Phinn, a neighbour and friend of Mr Lynch.

Mr Mahoney said that on the evening of the shooting, while the jury in that trial was still deliberating, Mr Lynch and another neighbour, Kevin Simons, had gone to Mr Phinn’s house to enjoy a drink.

“While they were there [Mr Simons] observed a motorbike coming up the road. Then the motorbike stopped and went back down the road,” Mr Mahoney told the court. “Shortly after, we say the same bike came from the other section of Midland Heights Crescent and stopped at the entrance of the neighbour’s gate but didn’t enter.”

Mr Mahoney said the group became suspicious. Mr Simons and Mr Phinn went inside their respective homes to arm themselves, but then heard a loud explosion.

When Mr Phinn stepped outside again, he saw Mr Lynch running towards him, holding his chest. They rushed Mr Lynch to the hospital, but he was subsequently pronounced dead.

Mr Mahoney told the jury that police found the firearm used in the shooting more than a year later, on June 5, 2011, in a bag.

“His [Mr Dickinson’s] DNA was found on it, and he subsequently made an admission that he had handled the firearm at some time prior to June 5, 2011,” Mr Mahoney said.

The prosecutor also alleged that the day following the murder, Mr Dickinson discussed the shooting with a colleague saying: “Whoever did that must be a very powerful person.”

Mr Mahoney, meanwhile, said Mr Gardner had instructed Mr Dickinson, and another person not before the court, to carry out the shooting, telling the court that he had admitted his involvement to a third party.

As the trial began the jury were shown videotaped police interviews with Mr Simons and Mr Phinn, in which they both described the evening of the shooting.

Mr Simons told officers that he, Mr Gardner and Mr Phinn, were drinking in Mr Phinn’s front yard when he noticed a motorcycle approach the house from the north, turn around and ride away. Mr Simons said he was suspicious about the vehicle because its back lights were off.

Moments later another motorcycle approached from the south with two riders, pulling into the neighbouring driveway but not going past the front gate.

He said he “got pokey” and started to walk towards his house in order to get a better look at the riders, who he described as wearing all black clothing. As he approached, he said the rider looked at a phone and then pulled away.

“That’s when I started to get the feeling something was up,” Mr Simons said. He said he returned to his friends, telling Mr Phinn to “get something” while he himself walked home to arm himself. Seconds after he went inside he said he heard a single gunshot and ran back to Mr Phinn’s house.

“When I got there [Mr Lynch] was face down,” he said. “Everybody was just running around. I couldn’t believe what happened. Next thing I knew Philmore got him in the back of the car, and we were on the way to the hospital.”

Mr Phinn, meanwhile, told police that while he heard a motorcycle driving through the area and into his neighbour’s driveway, he never actually saw it. He became nervous and went while Mr Simons went to his home. Seconds later he heard a single gunshot. He stepped outside and saw Mr Lynch running towards him, clutching his chest and saying: “I got shot. Take me to hospital.”

Mr Phinn ran back inside his house to get his keys, but when he stepped outside again Mr Lynch had collapsed.

The trial is set to resume this morning.