Accused killer Wolda Gardner has admitted lying to Police but maintains that he was not involved in the killing of Malcolm Augustus.

While Mr Gardner said he lied because he believed that his phone records would prove his innocence, he admitted in court under cross examination that he did not mention his phone to officers until after he knew they had the device.

Mr Augustus was shot dead in the Anchorage Lane area of St George’s at about midnight on December 24, 2012. Both Mr Gardner, 35, and Patrick Stamp, 30, have denied murder in connection to the killing.

Earlier in the trial, the court watched video interviews with Mr Gardner, in which he told Police that he had been chased from the area of the shooting by two unknown men, dropping his phone in the process.

However, taking the stand yesterday in his own defence, he admitted that version of events was a lie.

Mr Gardner told the court that on the evening of the shooting, he had been handing out Christmas hampers and cooking turkey at the RAA club in St George’s. He left at about 11pm, walking to his home on Secretary Lane.

Once he arrived, he said that he made several phone calls to tell people that the RAA was getting ready to close and that if they wanted to collect hampers they should do so soon.

Mr Gardner said Mr Stamp was one of the people he called, as they had discussed Mr Stamp getting a hamper for the mother of his child.

After taking a bath, he said he began to walk to a friend’s house on Anchorage Road. He knocked on her door but received no response. As he was walking away, he received a phone call from her. He said that it was almost midnight.

He told the court he was walking by the Anchorage Lane area when he saw Mr Stamp and another man, who testified earlier in the trial to seeing Mr Gardner with a gun on the night of the shooting.

“They were coming from the bush area,” Mr Gardner said. “They were moving to me at a brisk pace. The movement is what caught my attention.”

As the pair approached, he said he saw the lights of a vehicle driven by Causwell Robinson. Mr Gardner said the witness told him to tell Mr Robinson to come down to them, and he did so.

Mr Gardner said he then received a call from a friend at RAA and, while he was on the phone, he noticed an altercation in nearby bamboo bushes.

He said it appeared that two men were wrestling, although he could not identify who they were. He said that a moment later, the witness ran across him, towards the scuffle, and he heard a gunshot.

Mr Gardner told the court that when he heard the shot he flinched, dropping his phone. He said the witness ran from the area while he turned and got into Mr Robinson’s car.

Mr Robinson began to drive away when Mr Stamp ran towards them. Mr Robinson stopped the vehicle and Mr Gardner got out so Mr Stamp could climb in. The trio then left the area together, passing a police car as they went.

Mr Gardner said that he then returned to the RAA for a brief period before walking to a friend’s house.

He told the jury that he turned himself in after Police released his photograph and name to the media, stating that they wanted him to assist in the investigation.

Mr Gardner admitted that he lied about the events of the evening during a Police interview, saying he had hoped the officers would investigate his phone records because he told them that he was on the phone throughout the incident.

“I made an unwise decision but the point I was trying to express to Police was I was on my telephone at the time of the shooting,” he said. “I was figuring the Police would investigate and see I was on my phone a the time of the shooting. That’s what I expected.”

Under cross-examination by Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions Cindy Clarke, Mr Gardner agreed that in his first Police interview he had said nothing about the phone and had denied a photograph recovered from the phone found at the scene was of him.

The prosecutor also questioned why, if Mr Gardner did not want to be a Police witness, he had claimed during the interview that he was a victim.

“You could have said, ‘I have nothing else to say, look at my phone.’ You didn’t say that. The reason why you gave that story is you didn’t want to be a suspect.”

Mr Gardner denied the suggestion, saying he wanted Police to look at his phone records.

“You only told them about your phone after you knew they had it,” Ms Clarke said. “You didn’t volunteer anything about your phone, even though you are telling the jury that what you wanted them to do was look at your phone.”

Asked why he did not go to Police, despite saying that he knew his phone was at the scene, he said: “I was relying on my innocence.”

He also maintained he had not heard shouting or screaming in the area of the shooting.

Asked about his relationship with Mr Stamp, Mr Gardner said: “We were friendly but not close. We weren’t best friends. He’s not like a little brother to me.”

The trial continues.

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