The jury in a Supreme Court murder trial heard yesterday how a man discovered a body after he went to a West End park to fly kites.

Evidence was read from a statement given by Noel Simons, who wrote that he found the body of Jevon Daniels on June 17, 2016, near an area of waste ground adjoining Ireland Rangers Field on Ireland Island, Sandys.

“I was freaked out,” Mr Simons wrote after he described finding the remains. “In fact, I’m still freaked out.”

The evidence was read out during the trial of Gavin Providence, who has denied the murder of Mr Daniels.

Mr Simons, who flew kites for a hobby, wrote that he visited the area at about 12.45pm and parked his motorcycle underneath a tree for some shade.

He said he began to set up his kite when he smelt something “funny” from bushes near by.

Mr Simons described the stench as “like a dead animal, but stronger”.

He added that after looking through the bushes, he found a large mass wrapped in a large trash bag and covered in flies.

Mr Simons said: “I thought it was an animal wrapped up.”

He added: “It looked like a bunch of black trash bags were taped together with blue painting tape.

“It looked like it had been thrown there.

“I tapped it with my foot to check the weight of it, because at that point I wasn’t sure if it was a large animal or a body.

“That’s when I went back and called the Somerset Police Department.”

Christopher Milroy, a criminal pathologist, said he was contacted to give a second opinion on the body after it was confirmed to have been that of Mr Daniels.

He said he reviewed the autopsy and toxicology reports, as well as the missing persons report.

Dr Milroy gathered that the deceased was about 35 years old and suffered from extensive decomposition.

There were no injuries found.

However, he told the court that samples from his liver and muscles had traces of 11-hydroxy-THC, a byproduct of cannabis consumption.

Dr Milroy added that alcohol tests were inconclusive as they could only be accurately tested in blood, which was not available given the body’s state of decomposition.

The court heard earlier that Mr Providence and Mr Daniels were housemates who lived in separate apartments in a duplex on the Railway Trail in Sandys.

Mr Daniels was last seen on May 13, and his family became concerned after they had not seen or heard from him in 24 hours.

The mother of Mr Daniels’s child messaged Mr Providence two days after his last sighting to ask if he and seen or heard from Mr Daniels.

Mr Providence said that Mr Daniels had came by the Railway Trail property earlier that morning, but added that he told the victim to leave and never come back.

Mr Daniels’s mother, Gloria Daniels, told the court on Thursday that she learnt from Mr Providence, whose parents owned the property, that he had kicked her son off the premises.

She added that she had offered to collect her son’s belongings, but wound up having to collect them from the Bermuda Police Service.

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

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