The trial of three men accused of a shooting outside of a Hamilton nightclub began this morning with a jury hearing how suspects led police on a high-speed chase through Pembroke.

Devon Hewey, 25, Cervio Cox, 30, both from Warwick, and Julian Washington, 24, from Pembroke, all deny two charges of attempted murder and using a firearm outside Shine’s nightclub on Reid Street in connection to the incident on March 24, 2012.

Neither of the intended targets — Lavon Thomas and Darren Thompson — were injured.

As the Crown opened its case against the men, prosecutor Larissa Burgess told the court that Mr Thomas and Mr Thompson were among a group of friends enjoying ‘a night on the town’ on the evening of the shooting.

At around 3.30am she said the group were leaving Shine’s nightclub when they saw two men on a motorcycle in the street nearby.

“This motorcycle rode in their direction, in a western direction, on the wrong side of the street,” Ms Burgess said. “The passenger was holding an object which appeared to be a gun. He raised the gun in the direction of Lavon Thomas and Darren Thompson. The trigger was pulled twice, but it didn’t go off.”

She told the court that Mr Thompson dropped to the ground while Mr Thomas ran across the street in an attempt to escape as soon as he realised what was happening.

“As he ran, he heard two large explosions which caused the crowd outside the club to scatter,” she said. “When Levon Thomas reached the other side of the street, he turned around and saw the gun was aimed directly at him and it fired at him twice. Luckily, you will hear he made good his escape.”

Ms Burgess said that a marked police car happened to be on Cavendish Road at the time of the incident and saw a motorcycle ridden by two men overtaking a line of vehicles in an eastern direction. The motorcycle turned around before it reached the police car, racing west before turning down Spurling Hill.

Police chased the motorcycle along East Broadway and onto Berry Hill Road towards the Botanical Gardens where they lost sight of it.

Other officers were dispatched to Botanical Gardens where they discovered a black and white motorcycle parked in the trees at the eastern edge of the park. The officers noted that the vehicle’s engine and muffler were still warm, and the key was in the ignition.

A helmet was found laying on the ground nearby and a second helmet was found in the park later that day.

While Ms Burgess said that there were only two men on the motorcycle, she told the jury that all three defendants were forensically linked to the crime and could be found guilty for being a part of the “joint enterprise”.