A man on trial accused of murdering his housemate told police he kicked the victim out two months before his body was found in Sandys.

In an interview recorded on June 25, 2016, Davin Providence said that Jevon Daniels had woken him up in the early hours of May 16 banging on the door and cursing.

Mr Providence said: “I said, ‘Look, you are not coming in here with that attitude, not right now. Check you later.’ ”

He added that he had given Mr Daniels his blanket and pillow and he subsequently left the area.

Mr Providence said he did not see or speak with Mr Daniels after that and initially believed that he was “in hiding”, but became more concerned after police spoke with him on May 21.

He said he did not attempt to call or message Mr Daniels because others had already tried.

He denied the suggestion that he had not done so because he already knew he was dead.

Mr Providence later said that he heard at work on June 17 that Mr Daniels’s body was discovered “chopped up” in a trash bag.

While the officers suggested that the only way he could have known the body was in a trash bag was if he had been involved in leaving it there, Mr Providence responded that word had spread quickly through the community after the grim discovery.

He said: “It’s not the first time. There’s a murder and his picture is circulating all over the place.”

Mr Providence said that Mr Daniels had stayed with him on and off for two years and had slept there on May 13 and 14.

During the interview, Mr Providence said he had two phones, a Nokia that he said he purchased for $80 sometime that March and a Blu phone that he said he bought on May 14 from a “juice head” named Gary for $20.

He said the phone appeared to have been wiped, with no contacts or pictures.

Mr Providence has denied allegations that he murdered Mr Daniels on an unknown date between May 13 and June 17, 2016.

Prosecutors previously told the court that Mr Daniels was last seen alive on the afternoon of May 13, 2016.

A search for Mr Daniels was launched on May 16, but his body was discovered in an advanced state of decomposition near the Ireland Rangers football ground in Sandys on June 17 that year.

The court heard that the body was wrapped in a towel, clear construction sheeting and trash bags bound by blue tape.

As the trial continued yesterday, Lionel Pearman told the court that he worked with Mr Daniels doing tiling in the weeks before his disappearance.

He told the court that on the last day they worked together, he had driven Mr Daniels to West End Primary School, where they picked up the victim’s son, and he dropped them off near the Railway Trail.

Mr Pearman said while he could not recall the exact date, it had been a Friday.

He had expected to see Mr Daniels again on the following Monday but he never appeared.

He said: “Prior to that, he would text me on the weekends. He would do that just to say hello or ask me where we were working on the Monday, but there was nothing. He didn’t contact me at all.”

Mr Pearman said he attempted to reach out to Mr Daniels that day, but never received a response.

He said: “I thought he must have got a job doing something else or maybe I said something wrong.”

Under cross-examination by Charles Richardson, who is representing Mr Providence at trial, Mr Pearman accepted that Mr Daniels said that people wanted to “get him” and that he could not go to town.

Gloria Daniels, the mother of Mr Daniels, told the court that she became concerned about him after she was contacted by the mother of his son on May 15.

She said she repeatedly attempted to contact Mr Daniels, leaving him a series of voice messages, but received no response.

Ms Daniels said she eventually got the contact number for Mr Providence and reached out to him on the morning of May 16.

She said: “I told him I was worried about Jevon because I couldn’t get a hold of him. When he replied, he replied in a message. I didn’t talk to him.”

Ms Daniels later read out the text message response she received, which stated in part: “I had to kick Jevon out early this morning.

“He came to my door cursing and threatening me so I didn’t let him in. I told him I was going to call the man and not to come back.”

Under cross-examination, she accepted that she had not heard about any issues between the defendant and her son.

Brenda Albouy, Mr Daniels’s aunt, said she recalled searching for her nephew at several West End sites without success after his disappearance.

She also said that she had helped Mr Daniels to move into the Railway Trail apartment where Mr Providence lived, but she said she did not know whether Mr Providence’s parents, who owned the property, were aware that Mr Daniels was living there.

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