Defence counsel took aim yesterday at the identification process used in the investigation into an attack that left a 22-year-old dead.

Detective Sergeant Seymour Foote told the jury that he oversaw an identification procedure during the investigation into the 2020 murder of Joshua Rowse, showing a witness video footage of suspects in the case and noting their comments.

In cross-examination by Charles Richardson, he accepted that not all guidelines for the process had been followed.

Mr Foote told the court that the video he was provided for the procedure by Michael Redfern, the investigating officer, had been cropped.

He told the court that he was not aware at the time that the footage had been cropped, and accepted that guidelines stated that nothing should be done to guide a witness to anything in the video.

Mr Foote said: “I don’t know what the original footage was. That was the only video I saw.”

He also told the court that Mr Redfern had brought the witness to him for the identification procedure, and that officers investigating the case should not be involved.

Mr Foote said: “At the time, I didn’t know the extent of Mr Redfern’s role in the investigation.”

The officer, however, said that at the time he believed the process was handled fairly based on the information before him.

Davin Dill, 27, has denied murdering Mr Rowse and possessing a bladed article, specifically a knife, in a public place on June 14, 2020.

Earlier in the trial, the jury viewed CCTV footage that showed Mr Rowse and others visiting the Rubis gas station on South Road, Warwick, shortly after 7pm that day.

As Mr Rowse stood outside the door to the shop, a black car was seen to pull up, with two men emerging from the vehicle with their faces covered.

The men chase the victim around the side of the building, with the black car following.

Seconds later, Mr Rowse was seen to stagger briefly back into frame, clutching his abdomen.

The jury was also shown photographs of bloodstained pavement and grass, along with the broken-off tip of a serrated knife found on a grassy verge near the station.

As the trial continued yesterday, Pc Gregory White told the court that on the afternoon of June 15, 2020, he and another officer were tasked with conducting a search of an area near Paget Primary School.

Pc White said that while checking the school’s upper field, off Paget Lane, he discovered a black Hyundai — with a licence plate matching that of the vehicle driven by the suspects in Mr Rowse’s stabbing — in the corner of the field.

Under cross-examination, the officer accepted that the car was parked next to two other vehicles and that he could not say whether the area was commonly used for parking by those who live near by.

The trial continues.

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