A police officer claimed in court that two people must have dumped the body of Jevon Daniels on waste ground near Ireland Rangers football ground on Ireland Island North, Sandys, because the weight was too heavy for one person to carry.

Detective Constable Jewel Hayward also said that Mr Daniels’ body was most likely placed at the location at night.

The crime scene investigator with the Bermuda Police Service gave evidence yesterday at the trial of Davin Providence, who is charged with the 2016 murder of Mr Daniels.

Mr Providence and Mr Daniels had shared a house on Railway Trail in Sandys up until Mr Daniels disappeared on May 13, 2016. His naked body, wrapped in a blanket and black trash bags secured with masking tape, was discovered by a passer-by in bushes on the perimeter of the football ground on June 17.

Constable Hayward was one of the first officers to arrive at the scene once the body had been discovered.

Questioned by prosecutor Carrington Mahoney, he confirmed that there was a strong smell coming from the black trash bags, which were covered in flies.

Constable Hayward said that the face of the corpse was “unrecognisable”, and although the body was fully intact, it was in an advanced stage of decomposition.

When asked by defence attorney Charles Richardson if it had taken two officers to move the body, the police officer replied: “You’re absolutely right.”

When Mr Richardson then suggested that more than one person must have been involved in the murder, the Constable Hayward replied: “It would appear so.”

Mr Richardson also asked if the trash bags had been tested for DNA evidence.

Constable Hayward confirmed that they had, and that no trace of the defendant’s DNA was found.

He was unable to confirm whether detectives made inquiries to discover where the masking tape used to secure the trash bags had been purchased.

On Tuesday, Mr Mahoney told the jury that the Crown’s case relied on circumstantial evidence provided by phone records.

He said that relatives of Mr Daniels became concerned after the devoted father was not seen or heard from in 24 hours.

According to Mr Mahoney, the mother of Mr Daniels’s child sent a message to Mr Providence on May 16, asking if he had heard from Mr Daniels.

Mr Providence replied that Mr Daniels had arrived at their shared home earlier that morning, but Mr Providence refused to let him in and told him not to come back.

According to Mr Mahoney, Mr Providence also said that he had bagged up Mr Daniels’s possessions and told the woman to come and collect them.

A missing-person report was filed and Mr Providence was interviewed by police on May 20, when he handed in his mobile phone. It was later discovered that the phone had originally belonged to Mr Daniels.

The trial, before Puisne Judge Juan Wolffe, continues and is expected to last three weeks.

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