A Smith’s woman has described her shock at finding rolls of cash in a box under her sofa, shortly after her ex-boyfriend allegedly robbed a bank.

Gregory Tucker is accused of robbing Butterfield Bank in St George’s on June 9 last year, and threatening staff with a toy gun before escaping with cash.

Supreme Court has previously heard how a piece of the imitation weapon was accidentally left at the scene, and was later found to have a significant portion of Mr Tucker’s DNA on it.

Faith Best took to the witness box yesterday to detail her relationship with the defendant, whom she met at a Flatts Village bus stop in September 2014.

Approximately six months later, Mr Tucker moved into the office assistant’s home, where she lived with her young daughter.

But she told the jury his fitful employment as an electronics repairman saw him regularly short of funds.

Ms Best said: “I was a little irritated, because he wasn’t offering to contribute to the bills or food or anything like that.”

She added that his sole contribution to the house during his stay there was $6 in cash after an argument over food, and one bag of groceries.

In May, Ms Best said she discovered what looked like a gun under her sofa while cleaning. After prodding it with a pencil, she realised that it was too lightweight to be a real weapon.

“I was upset and told him I didn’t need anything like this around my daughter,” Ms Best said. “He said sorry and that he forgot it was there, and that he would take it out.”

She said that same month she also discovered a can of black spray paint in her linen closet, but did not mention the find to her partner.

On the day of the robbery, Ms Best recalled, Mr Tucker informed her that he was heading to St George’s to see a friend, while she stayed at home with a migraine.

When she found out about the incident online, she messaged her partner to confirm he was safe, and he replied that he was.

She said that when Mr Tucker returned to her house after 8pm that night, he was excited about purchasing a new Samsung S6 Edge mobile phone, which he told her he was picking up from an acquaintance of his uncle.

After that night, Mr Tucker continued drifting in and out of Ms Best’s home until June 23.

“Some nights he would sleep by me and other nights I wouldn’t see him,” she said. “If he didn’t stay with me, I don’t know where he stayed.”

Eventually, Ms Best said she grew agitated with Mr Tucker’s behaviour.

She said: “He told me that he was spending time with his family, and I found out he wasn’t. I just got annoyed with his petty lies. I told him to come get his stuff or I would put it out.”

Following the fallout, Ms Best said an unusual request from Mr Tucker further roused her suspicions.

“He had brought a box of Clorox (disinfectant wipes) into the house earlier that week,” she said. “He had said it was for him to clean up, but he never cleaned up.”

Ms Best said after being kicked out of her house, Mr Tucker left a voicemail message asking her to collect the Clorox box from under the couch, place it in his green duffel bag, then leave the bag outside her side door.

She said: “I looked in it, because I found it weird that he would specifically ask for that. I saw money: a stack of $10 bills, a stack of $5s and a stack of $2s.”

She added that the notes were held together with rubber bands and comprised entirely of Bermudian currency — which, last week, the court heard matched the description of the money taken during the robbery.

“I thought it was unfair,” Ms Best said. “He was always saying he was broke. How can you say you’re broke when you’re eating my food, drinking my drink, watching my TV, yet you have money stashed in my house?”

After photographing the money, she said she did as Mr Tucker requested and left the duffel bag with the box of money outside the house, and it was collected.

The final straw came when she discovered a receipt among his belongings for a $250 pair of Dolce & Gabbana designer sunglasses, purchased the day after the robbery.

She said: “I just couldn’t understand. I took a picture of the receipt and put him on blast on Facebook. I told him he could come and get his stuff before he found it in the trash.”

Ms Best said she discovered that Mr Tucker had been arrested in connection with the Butterfield Bank robbery on July 6 — the same day that she found out via social media that he had another girlfriend.

Feeling “sucker-punched”, she told the court that she looked back and thought of the toy gun and the rolls of money, and immediately contacted the prosecutor, as she was scared of being implicated in the case.

“I didn’t want to get in trouble, so I told them what I knew,” she said.

The court also heard a recorded telephone argument between the former couple while Mr Tucker was incarcerated.

“You didn’t have to say anything at all,” he told her repeatedly.

She replied: “You walk in my life, you f*** up my life and now you’re blaming me?”

Mr Tucker denies robbery and using an imitation firearm to commit an indictable offence.

The case continues.

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