Some items of clothing seized by police as part of a murder investigation were not tested for DNA, a police officer told the Supreme Court.

Wendell Thorpe was a Detective Sergeant in the Bermuda Police Service when Latrae Doeman was fatally shot in 2022.

Mr Doeman was the pillion passenger on a motorcycle when he was shot ten times by the passenger of a second motorcycle in Flatts Village in the early hours of July 1.

Aaron Perinchief, Jukai Burgess, QuaZori Brangman and Nasaje Anderson deny fatally shooting Mr Doeman.

During trial proceedings yesterday, Mr Thorpe, who headed the police investigation, showed the jury an array of clothing found in a trash bag that had been dumped on waste ground near the home of Mr Burgess on the morning of the shooting.

Among the 19 items were sweatshirts, shorts, sweatpants, several pairs of gloves and four ski masks. Also among the exhibits was a tan and blue-coloured jacket, a pair of blue shorts and a pair of long blue socks.

Under cross-examination by Marc Daniels, representing Mr Anderson, Mr Thorpe agreed that police believed that Mr Anderson was “the shooter”.

Mr Daniels showed a screen shot of a suspect approaching Mr Doeman slumped against a wall of the Brightside Guest House shortly after being shot.

The suspect, whose left arm was outstretched, was wearing a tan jacket, blue shorts and dark coloured long socks.

Mr Thorpe confirmed that those three items of clothing were in the trash bag recovered by police near the home of Mr Burgess and that all of the items found in the bag were sent to a forensic laboratory overseas for testing and analysis.

He had to concede that only two items — a pair of gloves and a pair of sneakers — were tested for DNA evidence.

Attorney Susan Mulligan, representing Mr Brangman, also cross-examined Mr Thorpe.

Ms Mulligan played a clip of CCTV footage taken from Brightside Guest House, which showed several vehicles arriving at the scene shortly after the shooting.

She noted that seven civilians in three cars had been able to walk over to Mr Doeman before police arrived and suggested that evidence such as shell casings could have been moved.

She said: “It wasn’t a very well controlled scene. There was a lot of action going on which was not ideal because there’s forensic evidence that could get transferred.”

Mr Thorpe agreed, and confirmed that, at one point, a civilian was able to pick up and move the motorcycle that Mr Doeman had been travelling on.

Ms Mulligan also questioned Mr Thorpe on fingerprint evidence.

She noted that two fingerprints had been lifted from the trash bag containing the clothes believed to be worn by the suspects.

The prints were sent for analysis but were not used in evidence for reasons not explained to investigating officers.

Ms Mulligan suggested that this could be because they were either not strong enough, or alternatively, they did not match the prints of anyone involved in the shooting.

“That’s a huge difference in this case,” she said.

The Crown closed its case after Mr Thorpe had given his testimony.

The trial will resume on Tuesday.

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