A convicted murderer claimed prison officials told him not to testify at the inquest into the death of his friend Lorenzo Robinson.

Antoine Anderson said he had "been advised not to take the stand by higher officers, so [he might] suffer certain consequences as a result" of yesterday's testimony.

Mr. Robinson suffered from schizophrenia and depression and was considered severely mentally ill. He was found hanging in his cell with his hands tightly tied behind him on July 14, 2008. Anderson — convicted with his brother-in-law Phillip Bradshaw of murdering Aquil Richardson — said fellow inmates Shannon Tucker and Andre Hypolite regularly taunted Mr. Robinson, who he described as a friend.

The witness told coroner Khamisi Tokunbo that on the Friday before Mr. Robinson hung himself, the abuse "got more serious".

By Sunday, Anderson said Mr. Robinson was very frightened.

"Lorenzo said Shannon and Hypolite had an officer lined up to have them let out at the same time," said Anderson. "Lorenzo was crying and shaking because he couldn't fight and was going to get beaten.

"Later the same day, I saw him again and he was saying the same stuff to me. I had never seen him so scared about anything like this before. He was really believing their threats."

Anderson said as the night went on, Tucker repeatedly told Mr. Robinson to kill himself. He said Tucker told Mr. Robinson if he didn't, an officer would let him into the cell with Hypolite to kill him. He said Tucker sent Mr. Robinson a pleated rope known as a 'line', weighted by a battery with tobacco on the end. Anderson said Tucker told Mr. Robinson to have a final smoke and hang himself.

"I then went to my window and told Lorenzo not to do 'it'. Lorenzo said...he had 20 to 30 minutes to do it or an officer would let Shannon and Hypolite in. I called out and [there was] no answer. I knew something was wrong. I was told the next morning that Lorenzo killed himself."

Anderson was housed in administrative segregation, an area just around the corner from disciplinary segregation, where Mr. Robinson was jailed.

Anderson said there were two doors that separated the corridors but on the night Mr. Robinson died they were open.

He claimed it was at least an hour-and-a-half before an officer called 'Taylor' got the door of Mr. Robinson's cell opened.

During questioning by Mr. Robinson's family's attorney Saul Froomkin QC, Anderson was asked to look at photos showing the victim's body. At that point, Anderson started to cry and said: "I can't do this".

When he regained composure he said: "The whole reason they picked on Lorenzo is because they're cowards. It's a cowardly act for them to pick on a guy who can't defend himself. If they didn't do that, he would be here today."

He told the court the prison officers knew what was going on and did nothing.

Asked why Mr. Robinson would believe Tucker and Hypolite would come into his cell, Anderson said: "There were some officers who allowed an inmate to get 'touched'. It don't happen now but it happened then. It's called getting caught slipping."

The court also heard from Tucker, the man who allegedly gave Mr. Robinson the homemade rope that he hanged himself with.

Tucker convicted for the brutal murder of music producer Matthew Clarke told the court he had a good relationship with Mr. Robinson. He claimed inmates and prison officers lied when they said he taunted the victim and told him to hang himself. He said he was asleep when Mr. Robinson died.

"He wanted to kill himself. I would tell him not to be crazy and [ask] 'why would you want to do something like that?'. Lorenzo had about 100 different personalities which would change every few minutes. One minute he would be talking to you and the next minute he would threaten you."

The witness claimed he often gave Mr. Robinson cigarettes, and on one occasion gave him boxers and an undervest.

Tucker also claimed the other inmates and prison officers were making stories up about him because they were out to get him.

Mr. Tokunbo said: "Can you think of any reason that Jamiko Bean, Antoine Anderson, Ze Selassie, divisional officer Place and officer Simons would say they heard you exchanging threats or [making] derogatory remarks to Mr. Robinson?"

Tucker said it wasn't true: "I think Antoine Anderson is just making it up because he wasn't in the same unit...

"Everybody was making up things about me. I am in a protective unit because of guys saying threats to me. When I first got there, everyone thought I was this person like how they are but when they found out I wasn't, they turned against me."

Tucker claimed he was innocent of murder and wasn't a criminal like his fellow inmates.

Mr. Tokunbo said to Tucker: "When he said he was going to kill himself, you didn't encourage him to go ahead?"

Tucker said no.

The coroner continued: "Did you tell him the officers were going to open the doors and let you get at him?"

Tucker said: "I didn't tell him nothing like that."

The inquest also heard from inmates Sydney Gibbons and Ze Selassie who backed Anderson's story. However John White, whose cell was next to Anderson's, said he never heard any yelling between the men.

The inquest continues this morning with Hypolite on the stand.