Murder accused Terranz (Monster) Smith took a proactive role on the stand yesterday taking jurors on a point-by-point explanation of statements he made during a week in custody in 2001.

Smith, in completing a narrative about how he went to Lagoon Park, Ireland Island South to confirm whether or not American Stanley Lee was dead, calmly turned to his lawyer then Puisne Justice Norma Wade Miller and said "can you refer to statements in cross examination? I just want to clarify some things".

For most of the day Smith worked through the statements, explaining his reasons for telling "fabrications" in the earliest statements and seeking to show why he was telling "the truth" after Police told him that co-accused, Robert Blair Tucker, was pointing the finger at him.

And Smith intimated that he broke into a Sandys home on August 8, 2001 just to get caught.

He wanted to be able to reveal Mr. Lee's body to Police and avoid being seen as a "prick" or informant to his cohorts in the "criminal life".

Smith continues on the stand today. Smith, Tucker and James (Spook) Dill deny killing the burly ex-con ? known by multiple aliases ? in the isolated park in what Police believe was deteriorating relations after drugs they had imported were found to be of low quality.

And while he ploughed through the minutia of his statements, Smith also revealed he was still using heroin for up to four days while in Police custody.

Explaining his shift in tactic, Smith said: "When I read over the statements last night I could see where my mind was all over the place. When you look at it all, the questions were there for the prosecution. I could see here the Crown has definitely went inside the statements and taken out what they wanted to take out.

"I mean everything is narrative at first and then they started asking questions," Smith continued. "What I'm trying to say is what they want to accuse me of now is invalid to what is here in black and white. They're like, digging for gold in nothing."

Smith was then allowed to read the court's copy of his statements ? rather than his own well-worn and marked copies ? and then address any points of concern.

Saying Mr. Lee had claimed he was willing to stay in Bermuda for "months if necessary" he was "caught off guard" when Mr. Lee told him on the morning of July 28, 2001 that he was leaving that day.

"If I had not went downtown the next day, Sunday, to consult with Blair (about Mr. Lee's Windsong Guest House bill), and out of that discussion him informing me that Sha (Mr. Lee) was dead, I would have never known he was here," Smith said.

"There's something else too," he continued. "I also told Police about the cellular phone he gave to me because he was leaving the country. So why would he need the phone anymore? And when I left Sha, I said 'I hope that you don't forget me'."

Concerning his whereabouts on July 28, Smith said: "I'm making confirmation today that I never left the house that day (after returning from Windsong around noon). If it wasn't for me being so full of curiosity, had I never asked the question, I would have never known there was a dead body."

The fact that his phone number was still with Mr. Lee 13 days after the murder ? and two site visits ? showed, Smith explained, was proof that he was not "planning anything devious".

"I had plenty of time to do a complete search to find that number," he concluded. He also did not think it was right for him to burn the body as he has claimed Tucker told him to do, as he had grown close to the victim.

"There was not grievances, or anything like that. I know what the (drug) business is like. I didn't have any reason to feel like doing something like that.

Later, Smith, who had spoken with downcast eyes for most of the day, looked up at the jury, fixing several in his gaze and said "this is critical" and denied that he was with Tucker, Dill and Mr. Lee at Boaz Island gas station and suggested he had an alibi.

Even before he was arrested, Smith said he believed "someone was trying to set me up", adding: "Something just kept telling me that I'm at the centre of this s**t. I was expecting Police to come and deal with me anytime soon. I'm not just showing paranoia, I was fully aware that Tucker knows people on the Police force, (officers) that always had been suspicious of me."

Smith chose to tell the truth because "I got to find out some nasty s**t was going down".

"Police were saying that Tucker was saying things," he said. "They said he was downtown incriminating me, saying a lot of things. Mr. (Jason) Smith told me he had went downtown to see Tucker and he told me that Tucker had said that I was the one who shown him the body on the Sunday. That struck me as puzzling, like 'why would he say that?'.

"I even told Police later that I felt like I was doing the wrong thing trying to protect him. What I was saying is I wasn't trying to involve anybody else because of my actions. But they kept badgering me. He was saying like I was the person who had planned to kill the guy. No, that wasn't true at all."