A gripping tale of double cross, murder and a drug deal gone bad, was painted yesterday by Director of Public Prosecutions Kulandra Ratneser in the trial of three Bermudian men accused of killing an American.

After a marathon 15 days of legal arguments, Mr. Ratneser wasted no time in telling the ten woman, two man Supreme Court jury the trial had begun “at last” and that he and Crown counsel Juan Wolffe would prove “to your satisfaction beyond a reasonable doubt” that Robert Blair Tucker, James Alan (Spooks) Dill and Terranz Sidney (Monster) Smith murdered or “aided, abetted or enabled” the murder of Stanley Lee.

The trio deny killing the mysterious Mr. Lee - known in Bermuda as Sean Russells or Sha - on July 28, 2001 at Lagoon Park, Ireland Island South, Sandys.

Later, former Government Forensic Pathologist John Obafunwa detailed nine wounds to the body which was “almost completely skeletonised” by August 9 when the body was first shown to Police.

He declared that Mr. Lee had died of “exsanguination due to multiple stab wounds” - he bled to death.

Lawyer Larry Scott represents Tucker, Elizabeth Christopher appears for Dill and Ed Bailey appears for Smith. Acting Chief Justice Norma Wade-Miller presides.

Making eye contact with the jury, Mr. Ratneser said the quartet of the burly American, 36-year-old Tucker, of Astwood Close, Warwick, Dill, 53, of no fixed abode, and Smith, 35, of Somerset Road, Sandys, were involved in importing cocaine in July 2001 but the deal had soured when it was discovered the drugs were of poor quality.

After delivery via the airport by an unknown man, a concerned Mr. Lee had contacted a fellow drug conspirator in the US by telephone who told him the drug was good but would not harden after “cooking”.

Mr. Lee's and Tucker's suspicions were confirmed, Mr. Ratneser said, when reports reached them that local users were complaining about the quality of the drug. Relations between them soured permanently.

In the following days, tension was raised over Mr. Lee's bill at a guest house, where Tucker had already paid portions of the bill.

Mr. Ratneser claimed that a fifth man, Nathaniel Darrell, will testify to becoming friendly with Mr. Lee in the days after his arrival here on July 6 and that Mr. Lee had given him as a gift “three quarters” of an ounce of the bad cocaine.

Mr. Darrell noted the growing tension between Tucker and Mr. Lee, the DPP explained, and knew that Mr. Lee had demanded back both the remaining drugs and whatever money that had been generated.

The American intended to return home with the drugs and money on July 28 but had extended his stay by a day when Tucker did not produce them.

Mr. Darrell told Police he last saw Mr. Lee with Tucker and Dill on the afternoon of July 28.

Mr. Ratneser added that Mr. Darrell would take the stand and tell the court that Tucker told him by telephone around 9.30 p.m. on July 28 that the deceased man “was with two American girls”.

Mr. Ratneser added: “You will hear evidence that Mr. Russells was already dead by then. So Tucker lied.”

Mr. Darrell repeatedly inquired in the following days about Mr. Lee's whereabouts as he was holding his luggage and belongings and at one point was told by Smith “you need to throw it away” before being led to believe Mr. Lee had left the Island.

The DPP said it was Smith who alerted Police to the existence of a body and unsuccessfully tried to negotiate a deal for immunity in the case of the body and an unrelated break-in.

Smith would later take Police to the body - left above ground some 75 yards into the park in “quite thick” bushes - and tell them they “would never be able to solve it”.

Mr. Ratneser explained that in the course of their investigation into the body the trio made several “voluntary” statements, and eventually they would confess their roles.

Tucker, the DPP continued, stabbed Mr. Lee in Lagoon Park, with Dill nearby, with two knives from his mother's home - despite being asked beforehand by Dill “if there was another way?”.

It was Dill, Mr. Ratneser explained, who told Police that Tucker was “vexed” that Mr. Lee had “put his hands on him” and that he was “going to do it” - meaning kill the American.

Dr. Obafunwa - who returned to the Island to testify - took the stand and detailed his autopsy report on Mr. Lee on August 10 at King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

The Nigerian doctor described in detail how he found the body and other evidence on arrival at 1.18 p.m., how it was “scooped up” with several inches of topsoil, placed on a large piece of plywood and taken to the hospital in relatively the same position in which it was found.

Maggots found in, on and around the body were collected for later examination by a forensic entomologist and muscle and other tissue kept for testing for drugs by a toxicologist.

Once back at the hospital by 5.15 p.m., an X-ray was conducted and Dr. Obafunwa saw a metal object lodged between the seventh and eighth ribs.

Once the autopsy was conducted the following morning, Dr. Obafunwa found a “projectile” where the X-ray showed it would be, and fusing of the two bones making a “pocket”.

This “congenital abnormality” was a “very rare phenomenon” he said, in which the inflammation and fusing of the bone was a “reaction to the presence of the projectile”.

He added with a smile: “I had only read about it in books. I had never seen it in 22 years of autopsies!

The doctor concluded the wound was from a shooting “some time” before death.

Dr. Obafunwa detailed nine wounds yesterday: One 4.7 millimetre wound to the upper chest wall some 12 centimetres above the left nipple, with a sharp edge below and a blunt edge toward the head; another wound in the upper chest area of indeterminate length due to the condition of the body.

Mr. Lee had a 5.5 centimetre wound in the chest approximately five centimetre below the left nipple; a knife wound in the right upper chest which was accompanied by “secondary” breaking of the second rib; an “oblique” cut in the breastplate which he said would have been related to the cut causing the breaking of the second rib.

There was also a severed spur to the eighth vertebrae in the lower back which he said went from the “outside to the inside, from left to right” and which “did not damage the spinal cord”.

The final two wounds Dr. Obafunwa explained were an “incision” wound on the ninth rib below the armpit facing forward and a related cut to the left forearm, which he said was consistent with a “defence” wound, gesturing with his arm of knocking away an attacker.

Dr. Obafunwa admitted that the body was in an advanced state of decomposition with damage done by “predators” which included the maggots.

He continues his testimony today.