A couple’s home CCTV system recorded a man lurking on their back porch and trying to enter their home, the Supreme Court heard.

Mark Eldridge and his wife Lisa Silva said the prowler was captured on camera at about 2.38am on September 28 last year.

Coltrane Ratteray, 46, of Warwick, pleaded not guilty to hovering, lurking, prowling and trying to enter the couple’s property on Fairvale Lane, also in Warwick.

Mr Eldridge, a director of business at Renaissance Re, told the court, chaired by Judge Charles Etta-Simmons, that his home security included a motion detector and a camera.

He said the system, installed about three years ago, would e-mail him a still photograph of what was recorded whenever the motion detector was activated.

At about 10am on September 28, he read an e-mail alert generated by the system that contained an image of a man on their back porch,

Mr Eldridge told the jury: “The camera serves several purposes — to secure the safety and security of my family and children, and for cases where some unwelcome person might be there when we are not.”

Prosecutor Larissa Burgess asked him if he recognised the man in the footage or if there was a reason he would be at his home.

“No. I didn’t expect him to be on the porch,” Mr Eldridge replied.

His wife told the jury the footage seemed to show the man trying to enter their home then taking a drink from their outdoor fridge.

“That’s the door where he’s reaching, it’s deadbolted. It shows him moving a chair and that’s where the window is.

“It shows he’s going into the fridge.”

Defence lawyer Marc Daniels asked Mr Eldridge if he was an IT expert or had ever experienced technical problems with his system.

He replied that while he had some IT qualifications, these were not specifically related to home security, and that he had had no need to troubleshoot his security system,

Mr Daniels then asked Mr Eldridge if he could easily identify colours or skin tones from the camera footage.

Mr Eldridge admitted he “could not be certain”.

The couple contacted police, and detectives later identified the man in the footage as Mr Ratteray.

Mr Ratteray attended Hamilton Police Station of his own free will on October 3 and was arrested. He was then interviewed by Detective Constable Sylvester Augustine of CID.

The detective told the jury he had responded to the couple’s call and had recognised the prowler as Mr Ratteray.

The trial continues.