Three men accused of a 2022 murder declined to take the stand in their own defence as their Supreme Court trial approached its conclusion yesterday.

Aaron Perinchief, Jukai Burgess and QuaZori Brangman elected not to give evidence in the case after co-defendant Nasaje Anderson testified this week that he had nothing to do with the fatal shooting of Letrae Doeman.

All four have denied charges of murder and using a firearm to commit an indictable offence.

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

Mr Anderson told the court this week that on June 30, 2022 he decided to go with a female friend to his drug supplier, whom he referred to as his “plug”, to collect cannabis.

He said after more than an hour there, he agreed to ride a bike to Mr Perinchief’s house in the Well Bottom, Southampton area for the plug, on the understanding that he would get a ride back to St David’s afterwards.

However, Mr Anderson said he slept in Mr Perinchief’s car after no ride arrived and was driven to Mr Burgess’s house in St David’s by Mr Brangman in the morning.

As his cross-examination continued yesterday, Mr Anderson reiterated that he did not want to identify either the woman he was with or his drug supplier, despite accepting that they were the only people who could support his alibi.

“I gave you my reasons as to why I didn’t want to say those names,” he told the court.

Mr Anderson said that he was irritated enough about his ride home not materialising that he vented to Mr Brangman throughout the drive back to St David’s.

However, he accepted that he did not attempt to contact his “plug” about the ride after a call at around 1.30am to ask for directions.

“I was a little irritated so I didn’t want to talk to him,” Mr Anderson said. “When I hung up the phone I was kind of irritated. Like, a little heated.

“I’m the type of person to kind of hold on to things. It takes me a while to get over things.”

Mr Anderson said that while he took a trash bag out of Mr Brangman’s car after he heard police were coming to St David’s, he maintained that he had no idea of its contents — or how clothing linked to him came to be in the bag.

He said that when he fled Mr Burgess’s home, he did not know police were looking for him, but he came to that conclusion when he continued to see officers searching.

“This has never happened to me so I’m going to have some sort of reaction even if I felt I hadn’t done anything,” he said.

He insisted that he climbed a tree because he was afraid of being bitten by a police dog.

Mr Anderson said he was in the tree for about 20 to 30 minutes and accepted that he did not answer police when they called out during their search.

Putting the Crown’s case to the defendant, Adley Duncan suggested that conversations between Mr Anderson and Mr Brangman in the lead-up to the shooting were about stealing a bike to use for the fatal shooting, which he denied.

Mr Duncan also suggested that “s***” referred to in messages between the two was a firearm, not a “bike switch” used to steal motorcycles as Mr Anderson claimed, to which he responded: “I disagree with you.”

Mr Anderson further denied a suggestion that the phone conversation halted between 11.11pm on June 30 and 1.30am on July 1 because the two were together committing the fatal shooting.

Mr Duncan said that Mr Anderson called Mr Brangman at that time to make sure he was all right after the shooting and contacted Mr Burgess to tell him that the job was done.

Mr Anderson, however, said that once he told Mr Brangman he was not going to link up with him to steal the bike there was nothing else to discuss and that he called him and Mr Burgess later only because he needed directions to Well Bottom.

While Mr Anderson accepted that he had agreed to steal a motorcycle that he had no personal interest in as a favour for Mr Brangman, he denied that he would commit a murder for Mr Burgess, a close friend.

“That’s not my character,” he said.

The court also heard agreed evidence that fingerprints were lifted from the red drawstring of the trash bag found to contain clothing and the left mirror of the motorcycle recovered from Well Bottom.

In both cases, neither Mr Anderson nor Mr Brangman were found to be matches.

The trial is expected to continue with closing speeches next week.

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