A man charged with murder was armed with only a small penknife, while the man he allegedly stabbed to death had a blade that resembled a machete, according to a key witness.

The witness, who cannot be named, was testifying at the trial of Jahmari Beach, 33, who is charged with the murder of Daunte Woods, 27, outside Somerset Cricket Club in Sandys.

Mr Beach faces a second count of possession of a bladed article in a public place. He denies both charges.

In the Supreme Court yesterday, the witness — who was with Mr Beach in the early hours of October 25, 2020 when Mr Woods died — was cross-examined by defence lawyer Elizabeth Christopher.

Ms Christopher referred the witness to three statements that they had given to police in the days shortly after the incident.

Ms Christopher asked the witness: “When you gave evidence, you said that Jahmari had a knife, and that you believed it was like a little pocket knife, like a knife you take camping, that you have to crack open?”

The witness confirmed giving the description to police.

Ms Christopher continued: “You said it was a little knife and I am going to suggest to you that the blade was about 2in, although the handle was bigger.”

Again the witness agreed.

They also agreed that they had described the knife Mr Woods carried as resembling a machete.

By law, pocket knives with a blade shorter than 3in are permitted without restriction.

The witness also provided further details of the moments before the stabbing.

They agreed with Ms Christopher that as they left the club with the defendant and a friend, they passed Mr Woods in the parking lot.

They confirmed that they remonstrated with Mr Woods, who was on a mobile phone telling someone to “come down”.

The witness agreed that they told Mr Woods words to the effect of: “Don’t tell him that. You are going to make it worse. It’s not needed. What’s the point of this?”

Asked by Ms Christopher whether Mr Woods and a second, unidentified man had charged at Mr Beach, and that Mr Woods “had an article in his right hand raised like he was going to use it”, the witness replied: “Yes“.

They gave the same response when Ms Christopher asked: “I am going to suggest to you that at every point on that night, Daunte was the aggressor.”

Two police officers who responded to a 911 call made by the witness also gave evidence in court yesterday.

Detective Sergeant Sean Hassell and Pc Ober Swan were on duty at Somerset Police Station near by when the call came in at about 2am.

Questioned by prosecutor Daniel Kitson-Walters, Mr Hassell said that he arrived at the scene to see an off-duty police officer carrying out chest compressions on a “slim, Black male” lying on his back in the middle of the road at the junction of Somerset Road and Hook ’N Ladder Lane.

Mr Hassell said that the officer carrying out CPR, Pc Daischon Chin, was visibly upset as he attempted to revive the victim.

Mr Hassell also confirmed that Mr Woods was unresponsive, and that there was blood on his chest.

After an ambulance had taken Mr Woods from the scene, the officer said that he noticed blood splatter in the road leading from where Mr Woods had been lying into Cricket Lane.

Mr Swan gave a similar account, noting that Mr Chin was in “a highly emotional state” while performing first aid on Mr Woods.

He said that Mr Woods’s eyes and mouth were “partially open”, that there was a pool of blood on his chest and that “he was not breathing at all”.

The trial, before Puisne Judge Juan Wolffe, continues.

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