A teenager who allegedly witnessed a shooting was detained by Police and made to come to Supreme Court yesterday.

When 17-year-old Jason Barnett reluctantly began testifying in the trial of the two men accused, he claimed he did not witness the crime.

According to prosecutors, Mr. Barnett was embroiled in a fight with Shawn Williams, 18, when Dwayne Signor, 29, shot Mr. Williams in the back at the Royal Artillery Association club in St. George's.

The bullet hit Mr. Williams' kidney and ruptured his colon.

The gun is alleged to have been brought to the club by Khyri Smith-Williams, 19, before it was grabbed by Signor during a brawl.

St. George resident Mr. Barnett told the court he's known Signor, also from the town, for around two years. He described Mr. Williams as a friend, and Khyri Smith-Williams as someone he knew from school.

Signor and Smith-Williams, from Sandys, are now on trial.

Mr. Barnett admitted getting into a fight with Mr. Williams in the early hours of April 4 after they got drunk and "bumped shoulders" during a reggae party at the club.

He told the jury he knocked Mr. Williams out and fled the scene prior to him getting shot. Mr. Barnett said he heard the gunshot, but could not tell where it came from, and ran home straight afterwards.

However, prosecutor Robert Welling alleged that Mr. Barnett was lying to the jury to protect Signor and Smith-Williams. He pointed out that Mr. Barnett told the Police on multiple occasions during interviews that he'd still been fighting Mr. Williams at the time the gun was fired.

However, the witness claimed yesterday that he lied to the Police, having been told what to say by a detective before the interviews began. Mr. Barnett was in custody as a suspect at the time they were conducted. He was later charged with affray over his participation in the fight, and pleaded guilty.

Mr. Welling refuted Mr. Barnett's claims that the Police told him what to say.

"You were not being told what to say. You were being asked," he suggested to the witness yesterday.

"I was being told what to say," insisted Mr. Barnett.

"You've lied this morning, calling into question the integrity of the Police, to help your friend Mr. Signor," alleged the prosecutor.

"No," replied Mr. Barnett.

He was the second Crown witness in the trial to be accused of lying by the prosecutor. The first was Darren Hodsoll, 20, another St. George's man who allegedly witnessed the incident.

Mr. Hodsoll told the Police– when he too was being treated as a suspect that he saw Signor run into the games room where the shooting occurred. But when he came to court as a witness last week, Mr. Hodsoll claimed detectives told him to say that in order to get out of trouble.

Cross-examining Mr. Barnett, Smith-Williams' lawyer Jerome Lynch QC revealed that he had been compelled to come to court.

"You were forced to come here, you were arrested on Saturday," he pointed out.

Mr. Barnett denied he'd been arrested, saying he turned himself in when he knew Police were looking for him. But he admitted he spent Saturday and Sunday nights in custody before being brought to court.

"It's clear you don't want to be here, do you?" inquired Mr. Lynch.

"Not at all," replied Mr. Barnett.

Signor is accused of attempting to murder Mr. Williams, shooting at him with a loaded firearm with intent to do grievous bodily harm, and possessing a firearm and a 9 mm bullet. Smith-Williams is accused of carrying a firearm and going armed in public so as to cause terror.

They deny the charges and the case continues.