A trail of blood across a Hamilton nightclub was described in court yesterday as the trial of Carlton Simmons, a former alderman for the Corporation of Hamilton, began.

Crown counsel Nicole Smith told the court that Mr Simmons was working at the nightclub just before 4am when Jahkeil Samuels entered and the two began a conversation. But she said that a brawl broke out minutes later in which Mr Samuels punched Mr Simmons in the head before being pulled away.

Ms Smith added: “Mr Simmons had a bladed article in his hand and subsequently began stabbing Jahkeil Samuels multiple times.”

The Crown said that the alleged victim “sustained serious, serious injuries” in the fight.

Ms Smith told the jury that security footage seized by police “clearly shows that the behaviour and circumstances surrounding the altercation were such that the accused either intended to kill Jahkeil Samuels or, at the least, wounding him with the intent to cause him serious harm”.

Mr Simmons, 40, pleaded not guilty to the attempted murder of Jahkeil Samuels in his bar, Ambiance Lounge, in Angle Street in Hamilton, in the early hours of August 12 last year. Mr Simmons also denied an alternate charge of wounding Mr Samuels, 32, with intent to do grievous bodily harm.

Victoria Holden, a crime scene investigator with the Bermuda Police Service, took the jury through a gallery of pictures that showed blood in the downstairs bar.

Other images showed a broken prosecco bottle on the dancefloor near a bloodstained white T-shirt.

Broken glass and a smashed bottle lay at the bottom of the stairs and a trail of blood led out to Angle Street.

Pc Maya Tucker told Puisne Judge Charles-Etta Simmons she arrived with her patrol partner at about 4.25am and found the injured man on a motorcycle outside Ambiance with two others.

One shouted: “Take him to the hospital.”

Ms Tucker said blood was splattered in the club’s upper hallway and there was a “broken white champagne bottle and broken glass” at the bottom of the stairs.

The court heard that Ms Tucker found Mr Simmons downstairs with blood running from the side of his head while one of the bar’s customers wiped his head with a cloth.

Defence counsel Saul Froomkin, QC, asked the officer if she had recognised one of the trio outside as a member of the Parkside gang.

She said: “Yes.”

But when asked if she knew the injured man as the leader of Parkside, Ms Tucker told the court: “I don’t know Jahkeil Samuels. I’ve heard the name.”

The trial, which is expected to take a week, continues.

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