A man accused of the murder of Letrae Doeman told a jury that he had no idea a bag he threw into a wooded area contained clothing that was linked to him.

Nasaje Anderson said in the Supreme Court that he took the trash bag from the trunk of a car moments before police arrived at his co-defendant’s home in St David’s, prompting him to flee on foot.

He said he was completely unaware of the contents of the bag, which included a pair of football shorts he had worn, until he received pictures as part of legal disclosure about a year after his arrest.

“I knew it wouldn’t be hard for them to say those are my shorts, but they weren’t assigned to me,” he said. “They weren’t my shorts, but I have worn those shorts.”

Mr Anderson said he did not remember taking the shorts from the football club and had no idea how they came to be in the bag alongside clothing that was found to have particles characteristic of gunshot residue.

Mr Anderson has been charged alongside Aaron Perinchief, Jukai Burgess and QuaZori Brangman with murder of Mr Doeman, and using a firearm to commit an indictable offence.

The court previously heard that Mr Doeman was the pillion passenger on a motorcycle that was fired upon in Flatts at about 1.10am on July 1, 2022.

Prosecutors have alleged that all four defendants were involved in the fatal shooting, with the Crown suggesting that Mr Anderson was the gunman.

Earlier, Mr Anderson told the court that on the night of the shooting he had gone to the home of a drug dealer, whom he only identified as his “plug”, before midnight and remained there for at least an hour.

He said he agreed to drive a black motorcycle for the dealer to Mr Perinchief’s home in Well Bottom, Southampton, and was told that he would get a ride back.

However, he said that once he reached Cobbs Hill in Warwick, he made a series of calls because he did not know where Well Bottom was.

“I thought I had it down until I got to that area and I knew I wasn’t in the right area,” Mr Anderson said.

He said he called the drug dealer first and, when he was unable to explain the location, he called Mr Brangman to ask for assistance.

Mr Anderson said he then reached out to Mr Burgess and asked him for Mr Perinchief’s phone number, with Mr Perinchief calling him a few minutes later to better explain where to go.

He said that he eventually met Mr Perinchief near Well Bottom and followed him to his house, but did not go inside.

“I asked him if he knew who was going to come pick me up and he said no,” Mr Anderson said.

Mr Anderson said the pair sat in Mr Perinchief’s car and, while there, Mr Perinchief told him there had been a shooting in which someone had died, and that Natrae Eversley had been struck.

He told the court that he was “startled” by the news because he knew Mr Eversley through his family.

Mr Anderson said he fell asleep in the car and, after he woke, he spoke with Mr Brangman, who agreed to pick him up and take him back to St David’s.

He said that on the way back to St David’s, Mr Brangman briefly stopped at his home in Pembroke and got out of the car, but returned after a few minutes and continued to drive east.

Mr Anderson said they arrived at Mr Burgess’s house, but that within minutes of getting there, he received a message saying that police were coming into St David’s.

While he said he did not know where the police were going, he said he repeated the message to Mr Burgess and Mr Brangman, and decided it would be safest to get rid of the drugs he had in his possession.

“Mr Burgess said there was something in the car,” he said. “I was asking what was in the car and he didn’t say.”

Mr Anderson said he went to the car, grabbed a trash bag from the trunk and walked into a nearby wooded area when he saw police arrive at the house.

Mr Anderson said that he tossed the bag without looking at its contents and ran, but discovered that the area was “pretty much” surrounded by officers, including a canine unit.

“In my mind I definitely didn’t want to get bit,” he said. “That’s what made me get in the tree.”

Asked about phone calls during that period, he said he had made a call to a friend to ask about the police presence in the area.

“I called that number to see how many police was around and was told there were a lot of police around,” Mr Anderson said, adding that he also received a call and had asked the caller about the police presence.

When Marc Daniels, counsel for Mr Anderson, said the phone records showed both calls went to voice mail, he said: “I definitely got a hold of this person. I don’t see it on here, but I definitely talked to them.”

Mr Anderson added that he had no issue with Mr Doeman or Mr Eversley and had no involvement in the fatal shooting.

“I can definitely say without hesitation that wasn’t me,” he said. “I didn’t shoot nobody. I wasn’t on the back of a bike at all.”

The trial continues.

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