Murder-accused Ze Selassie called the Police during the hunt for missing teen Rhiana Moore saying he wanted to give his side of the story.

The evidence came at Supreme Court yesterday as a string of witnesses detailed sightings that prosecutors say link Selassie to the crime (see separate story).

Fourteen-year-old Rhiana was around seven months pregnant when she was found dead from multiple stab wounds at a nature reserve in Hamilton Parish on the morning of Saturday, May 31 last year.

She'd gone missing after attending a church youth group the night before. Prosecutors say she'd been in a secret relationship with Selassie, who was aged 32 at the time, as proved by prolific cell phone text messages and calls between them. He denies premeditated murder.

Rhiana's mother, Juliann Moore, 46, gave evidence last week of how she conducted her own detective work after her daughter went missing. At one point on May 31, prior to the body being found, she dialled the last number Rhiana called the night before according to cell phone records. This connected her to Selassie's voicemail. She also found a picture of Selassie on an Internet social networking site that Rhiana used.

Later, after Mrs. Moore also called Selassie's girlfriend, he called her back at her home. During the conversation, he claimed Rhiana told him about her problems claiming she'd once been sexually molested by two men.

Mrs. Moore said Selassie also informed her during the conversation that he was going to contact the Police station about Rhiana. According to the prosecution version of events, the teenager may have already been dead. Prosecutors say circumstantial evidence suggests Selassie killed her with premeditation on or about Friday, May 30.

Yesterday, the trial heard from Cherlye Trimm, station duty officer at Hamilton Police Station. She explained that Mrs. Moore called the station around 7 to 7.30 a.m. on May 31 reporting Rhiana missing. She entered information into the Police computer and Mrs. Moore subsequently brought in a photograph of Rhiana.

Ms Trimm said that around 9.30 a.m she got a phone call from someone identifying himself as Ze Selassie. He said Rhiana's mom had called his home and his girlfriend and he wanted to talk to the investigating officer because he wanted to give his side of the story.

According to Ms Trimm, Selassie went on to say that he was friends with Rhiana and she was having problems with her mother that she used to discuss with him.

The duty officer took Selassie's number and told him she would get someone to call him back, then she spoke to personnel in the Station Sergeant's office.

She agreed with defence lawyer John Perry QC that Selassie "was a little put out that he was being accused" in connection with Rhiana's disappearance.

The court also heard yesterday from Rhiana's cousin, Mickai Wainwright, who shared her family home in Devonshire. He told the court they were once close, but her behaviour changed after a family cruise in December 2007.

College student Mr. Wainwright said: "After the cruise she became distant. She just liked to be in her room." He said they used to talk, but leading up to the time of her death he did not see her so much and they mainly communicated via text message.

He explained that Rhiana texted on her cell phone so often that the numbers wore off the keys. However, he said that when she texted the evening of her disappearance, he could not see what she was writing because she hid what she was sending.

He told the court he sent her messages from his phone from 12.30 a.m. until around 3.20 a.m. on May 31 after she'd failed to come home, asking why she was out so late. A message came back saying that she was coming, but there was no further response.

Mr. Wainwright also told the court that in January or February 2007 he'd set his cousin up on an Internet social networking site called hi5, which is similar to Facebook. He helped Rhiana set up a profile about herself which included a picture. He later noticed that she had been interacting with various people through the site, including a person named Ze.

In answer to a question from defence lawyer Mr. Perry QC, Mr. Wainwright agreed that his cousin had become "very secretive" for at least a year before her death and used to hide her text messages.