A young man happened across the body of a hit and run victim as he travelled home from a party, Supreme Court heard yesterday.

Andre Shakir, 22, stopped his car and called the emergency services after spotting Raymond (Smockie) Curtis, also 22, lying facedown on the road.

Car driver Mendall Outerbridge, 25, is on trial at Supreme Court, accused of running Mr. Curtis over and killing him in Malabar Road, Sandys, early on September 6 2008.

He denies causing death by dangerous driving with his defence lawyer Mark Pettingill suggesting yesterday that Mr. Curtis may have met his death through injuries caused by other means.

However, Outerbridge admits failing to report a collision that injured Mr. Curtis and driving without a driving license, vehicle license and insurance.

Prosecutor Robert Welling alleged during his opening speech on Monday that Mr. Curtis was lying in the road drunk, and Outerbridge hit and killed him because he was driving too fast on the wrong side of the road after a night out drinking.

Yesterday, Mr. Shakir explained he had been at a party at the boat club in Sandys with two friends, and left to drive them home in his mother's car around 4 a.m. "As we got to the corner going to Dockyard, we saw the body lying in the road, in the middle of the road," he said.

Mr. Shakir, a labourer from Somerset, described how the body was lying face down on the yellow centre line, and he had to swerve to avoid hitting it. He turned his car around and parked it across the road before contacting the emergency services.

The trial heard on Monday from forensic pathologist Michael Pollanen, who said Mr. Curtis' multiple injuries were consistent with him being struck by a car as he lay in the road, and then being dragged down the road. However, cross-examining Dr. Pollanen yesterday, defence lawyer Mr Pettingill suggested it was not clear from the medical evidence how Mr. Curtis came to be lying in the road.

The doctor agreed, and agreed with a further suggestion from Mr Pettingill that an injury Mr. Curtis suffered to the back of his head could have caused him to be lying there.

Mr. Pettingill also pointed out that while Dr. Pollanen's report concluded that the victim was likely to have suffered some of his injuries around the time of his death, a forensic pathologist from King Edward VII Memorial Hospital who did the autopsy, initially concluded those injuries had been suffered after death.

Dr. Pollanen said it was "not unreasonable" to suggest the injuries had been suffered after death but he did not favour the conclusion.

Detective Sergeant Kevin Christopher described finding a bumper with red paint on it at the scene, and looking for red vehicles in the area. That led the Police to Outerbridge's home in Dockyard where the Subaru was parked nearby with wet blood on it. Outerbridge was arrested around 8.15 a.m on the same date as the incident on suspicion of manslaughter.

Government analyst Desiree Springs described how she tested blood samples taken from the accused around ten hours after the collision.

The samples had less than five milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood. The drink-drive limit is 80 mg. She also found a non-active ingredient from the drug cannabis in his system. Dr. Spriggs said the results indicated Outerbridge was "not under any type of chemical reactions he was not on a high" at the time the sample was taken.

She also told the jury that brown stains and "flesh debris" found on the front bumper, tow hook, front wheel suspension and underneath the Subaru tested "positive presumptive" for blood.

The case continues.