A police witness told the Supreme Court yesterday of his upset on finding a series of “offensive” posts on a social-media platform, which he attributed to a paralegal who has been charged with attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Retired Detective Inspector Dean Martin said he was “shocked to see what I saw” after finding a post on Instagram on October 29, 2023, accusing him and another officer of being corrupt.

Mr Martin alleged to the jury that Eron Hill — who was charged with three counts of attempting to pervert the course of public justice through social-media posts made between October 29 and November 30, 2023 — was behind the posts on the Instagram account for the Bermuda Equal Justice Initiative group.

Mr Martin said he immediately contacted Detective Constable Michael Redfern, whose image was depicted next to him in the initial post with the words “Corrupt Bermuda Police”.

Mr Hill has also been charged with six offences under the Electronic Communications Act, including that he made “grossly offensive” posts on social media about police officers and caused one officer’s phone to ring repeatedly to harass him.

Mr Martin told the court that on November 2, 2023, he observed another post on the same Instagram account questioning his integrity as a police officer.

The court heard that additional posts were made on the account on November 30, 2023, and on March 6, 2024.

Mr Martin said he made screenshots of the posts and e-mailed them to his Bermuda Police Service e-mail.

He added that he reported each post to Instagram and subsequently saw that they were removed.

He told the court that his integrity as a police officer was also mentioned in a WhatsApp message flagged up to him by an acquaintance.

Under cross-examination by Mr Hill, who is representing himself in the matter, Mr Martin said: “I have been a policeman for over 25 years and I have never had my integrity questioned prior to these posts.”

In court yesterday, Mr Hill accused Mr Martin of “being a liar” over the screenshots’ technical data — copies of which were presented to the jury.

The witness responded: “I have no reason to lie.”

The jury also heard evidence from Mr Redfern, including details of his e-mail exchange with Mr Hill in February 2023.

Under cross-examination, he said that on the morning of February 16, 2023, he received an e-mail from the defendant requesting a meeting regarding an incarcerated person.

Mr Redfern responded and got another message with details on the incarcerated individual — which were read in court by Mr Hill.

The witness said another senior police officer responded to Mr Hill’s message, turning down the paralegal’s request for a meeting.

“There was nothing really to discuss,” Mr Redfern told the court.

Earlier, the court heard that in October 2023 the witness had received several calls from two numbers that he later discovered were connected to Mr Hill.

Mr Redfern said he had “suspicions” based on the profile photograph for one of the calls to his police-issued phone

He said the photograph depicted him and Mr Martin together with the words “Corrupt Bermuda Police” and their names.

The witness said he was “very upset about being accused of being very corrupt”.

The trial before Acting Puisne Judge Paul Doherty continues.

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