Former assistant Police commissioner Wayne Perinchief agreed that a double-edged knife found on a suspect other than Stanford Archibald could have been used to kill Aaron Easton.

Archibald, 39, formerly of Somerset, denied killing Mr. Easton who was found in a pool of blood on Laffan Street, Pembroke, on May 4, 1985.

Mr. Easton's had 49 stab wounds, a concrete block dropped on his head, punctured lungs and other injuries which attributed to his death.

The Director of Public Prosecutions Kulandra Ratneser told the six woman, six man jury that the case is based on circumstantial and DNA evidence.

Crown counsel Juan Wolffe led Mr. Perinchief through his evidence during yesterday's Supreme Court trial.

Mr. Perinchief said that he was the officer in charge of Mr. Easton's murder investigation 18 years ago and had set up an investigation team on the night of the murder.

He said he saw the body and but did not enter Troy Rawlins' apartment immediately after the killing, since the Scenes of Crimes were in there. Rawlins was a neighbour of Mr. Easton.

Dr. Ronald Michael Van Reenen was asked if a double-edged knife discovered on Michael Dillas could have been the murder weapon and he said it could have been.

The murder weapon was described as double bladed and not more than six inches long, but both Dr. Van Reenen and Mr. Perinchief agreed that the knife found on Mr. Dillas, although only three inches long, could have penetrated the bodily tissue if used with sufficient force.

Mr. Perinchief also said that Mr. Dillas was never completely cleared as a suspect since his alibis never checked out. "He was often found to be evasive and lying during the investigation."

The jury heard Mr. Dillas also fitted the description of the killer given by Robert Herd, the only eyewitness.

Mr. Wolffe asked Mr. Perinchief about Mr. Herd's statements, which led to a disagreement between counsel, as the defence team said that they only knew of one statement from Mr. Herd.

The court heard that Mr. Herd had several other statements and revealed in November,1985, not November, 1986 as was originally reported, that he had witnessed the murder. Recently deceased Albert Jerome (Poochy) Smith, who was also a murder suspect, had conveyed his murder account to three women who then made formal statements to the Police on the surroundings around the murder and of the stolen money and drugs .

Mr. Pettingill suggested that perhaps Smith had seen more of the murder, because he knew too much. The case continues on Monday.