Murder-accused Kyle Sousa took the witness stand in his own defence yesterday telling a jury he saw co-accused Shannon Tucker and Vernon Simons murder Matthew Clarke.

Songwriter Mr. Clarke, 31, was stabbed more than 20 times and bludgeoned over the head with a metal bar at his home in Pembroke last April. The trio accused of the crime are on trial before the Supreme Court.

The jury has previously heard taped Police interviews with the men, where each has sought to blame the others. Sousa, 18, is the youngest of the defendants and was 17 at the time of the alleged killing. He told the court yesterday: "I did not murder Matthew Clarke. I do not have no motive against Matthew Clarke.

"I can't even say nothing on it because it scared me to be up for murder. Shannon and Vernon know what they did and I can't say more after that."

Mr. Clarke was found dead in bed by his girlfriend shortly after 3 p.m. on April 9, 2008. According to the case for the Crown, the three accused travelled to the scene together in Tucker's blue work truck. Prosecutors have suggested that at least two of the men inflicted the fatal wounds, and construction company boss Tucker who employed Simons may also have been the "boss" in respect of the crime.

Simons and Sousa are alleged to have later dropped a bag with a metal bar used in the killing into a pond, showered and disposed of their clothes. All three deny murder. Sousa told the jury yesterday that on the date of the alleged killing, he spent time eating and drinking in Admiralty House Park with his friends, Simons, 24, and Tucker, 32.

He claimed the pair were angry because they had to answer bail that day on a drugs matter. The court has previously heard how they had been arrested over an alleged narcotics importation plot prior to this date and blamed Mr. Clarke both for the importation and for setting them up. Sousa told the court he did not know Mr. Clarke but knew that Simons and Tucker "had got caught up in some drugs stuff". He claimed that while they were in the park, Tucker shouted out to him: "Hey Kyle, suppose I gave you a grand, would you kill this guy?"

But, he stated, " I just thought he was blowing off steam venting."

He described how they subsequently travelled in Tucker's truck to Mr. Clarke's home in North Shore Road, with Tucker saying they were going to "check this guy" before he and Simons answered bail. Sousa said he did not know whose house it was.

They parked in the driveway and the other two got out, with Tucker telling him "wait there".

After five or ten minutes, Sousa said he got out of the truck for a cigarette and walked to nearby Jason's Barber Shop where he chatted to an unknown Jamaican man before walking up an alleyway near Mr. Clarke's house.

"I heard a screaming noise, like somebody was in pain," said Sousa, who realised it was coming from the house. When he looked inside, he claimed: "I saw Vernon hitting someone with a pipe or a stick."

He said he saw Tucker inside too, and after Simons stopped hitting the person, Tucker walked over and began making a stabbing motion with his hand.

"After that I just said, 'What the f**k' are you guys doing?' That's when Shannon said 'Don't worry what we guys are doing, ain't you supposed to be in the truck anyway?'" Sousa claimed.

He said he was scared and ran off west along North Shore Road until he had to stop at C-Mart grocery store to catch his breath. At this point, Simons and Tucker drew up in the truck. He alleged that Simons swore at him and told him to get in, and he noticed blood on his shirt, pants, and hands.

"Vernon looked like a madman," he claimed, explaining that blood got on him after he got into the truck and sat between the other two.

"Vernon kept ranting at me saying, 'If you tell anybody, you'll be next'," he went on to claim, adding that Tucker later instructed that all the bloody clothes should be thrown away and stated: "I ain't going to jail for nobody."

Sousa told how he took a shower at his uncle Ronald Smith's house in North Street after Simons told him to. He then accompanied him to Dellwood School where Simons threw a black trash bag containing a pipe into a pond, weighed down with a rock. This was later recovered by Police divers.

Later, Sousa said he accompanied Tucker to Tynes Bay Incinerator where he threw a bag of clothes into the trash on Tucker's instructions. However, he claimed that he only realised the other two had killed someone when his uncle told him later that the Police wanted to search his home in connection with a murder.

"I was scared. I wanted to say something so bad to my uncle Ronald but I was scared. I stayed a few minutes then I left. I caught the bus home," explained Sousa, who was living in Warwick at the time. He was arrested two days later on suspicion of murder, and said he tried to help the Police find Tucker and Simons.

Sousa denied knowing anything about the murder in initial statements to the Police. He told the jury yesterday this was because he was scared, and admitted that his original account of events was "practically all lies".

However, he denied suggestions from Simons' lawyer Larry Scott and Tucker's lawyer Owen Davies QC that he was in fact one of two men who inflicted Mr. Clarke's wounds. Mr. Davies suggested on behalf of Tucker: "You were Vernon Simons' sidekick. You were his muscle. You were his killer."

"No way," replied Sousa. The case continues.

Sousa admits being East Coast Blood

A man accused of battering and stabbing Matthew Clarke to death admitted having the word "killa" tattooed on his body during an initiation into a notorious US gang.

However, Kyle Sousa denied this made him a man of violence, telling Supreme Court he decided against being a member of "The Bloods" in Allentown, Pennsylvania.

Sousa, 18, is on trial along with Vernon Simons and Shannon Tucker for the murder last April, which saw 31-year-old Mr. Clarke stabbed and beaten to death in his own bed allegedly in connection with a drugs plot.

In answer to questions from Simons' lawyer Larry Scott yesterday, Sousa said: "I got initiated into a gang and they made me get a tattoo." Asked about the initiation, he explained: "I got beat up... they all jumped me and punched me."

However, he denied doing any initiating himself or actually joining The Bloods despite the symbol inked onto his forearm.

"I lost the heart to be in the gang," he said, explaining that he left and returned to Bermuda instead.

Sousa, who blames his co-accused for the attack and says he was just a bystander, is set to continue being cross-examined today.