Lawyers in the Matthew Clarke murder case endeavoured to make sense of the tangled web of allegations involved as they delivered closing speeches yesterday.

Shannon Tucker, 33, Vernon Simons, 24, and Kyle Sousa, 18, are all said by prosecutors to have participated in stabbing and beating the 31-year-old songwriter to death.

Mr. Clarke's body was discovered in bed at his North Shore, Pembroke residence by his girlfriend Charlitta Spencer around 3.30 p.m. last April 9.

In their Supreme Court evidence and Police interviews, each of the defendants blamed the others for the attack and said they were only at the scene as an innocent bystander. However, each also admitted in front of the jury that they'd told a mixture of lies and truth to the Police.

Cross-examining Tucker shortly before evidence concluded in the case yesterday, Senior Crown counsel Carrington Mahoney listed how he believes events unfolded. He put it to Tucker that he and the others committed the crime some time after 2.39 p.m., when Ms Spencer last spoke to Mr. Clarke, and 2.50 p.m., when Tucker left to meet a bail appointment at the Police station relating to separate drug importation allegations.

Both Tucker and Simons were under investigation at the time in relation to the discovery of cannabis and ecstacy imported in machine parts addressed to Tucker. The prosecution claims the pair blamed Mr. Clarke who worked for Tucker's construction firm at one point both for the plot and for leaving them to take the blame.

An angry Tucker, according to Mr. Mahoney, enlisted the services of his labourer Simons, to assist in the murder. Simons in turn allegedly enlisted Sousa, who was aged 17 at the time and did not know Mr. Clarke.

The prosecutor put it to Tucker that the trio plotted to kill Mr. Clarke before Tucker's scheduled 3 p.m. bail appointment, so he could use it as an alibi. He went on to claim that Tucker and Simons went into the victim's room and distracted him while Sousa came over the back wall of the premises. The trio are then said to have overpowered the victim and held him down on his bed while Tucker and Sousa stabbed him and Simons hit him with a metal bar.

Tucker, according to the prosecutor, hoped the murder would bring the drugs case he was facing to an end. After the murder, he is alleged to have gone to meet his 3 p.m. bail appointment while leaving the others to clean up some of the evidence.

He was arrested that evening, with the prosecutor telling the self-confessed gambler yesterday: "This was the biggest gamble you ever made in your life, but the Police were too quick on this one."

Tucker refuted Mr. Mahoney's version of events, telling the jury: "I want everybody to understand that I'm not no murderer or no killer, and they can believe that."

However, in his closing speech later, Mr. Mahoney said: "The issue, pretty straightforward, is who did it? And the defence of each accused seems to be 'it wasn't me, it was the other two, not me'. And if you're not careful, they may confuse you, because it's almost like those fictional sequences in the movies when you get one sequence, then another sequence. Indeed, you may think this is good material for fictional writing after this case. But I ask you, do not let their lies and their attempts to confuse you succeed."

Mr. Mahoney said although each defendant claims they were not involved, this may actually help the jurors get a feel for where the truth lies. He told them: "You see, each of the accused seems to be telling you two-thirds of what happened, skillfully attempting to keep the one-third that indicates their involvement from you."

However, he went on to add: "When you look at the evidence of each accused it strengthens the evidence of the Crown's case against each."

In his closing speech, Sousa's lawyer Charles Richardson claimed his client was not involved and never would have witnessed the killing if he'd followed instructions to stay inside Tucker's truck that afternoon. "Why," asked Mr. Richardson, "would he dispatch someone he didn't know in a way that's clearly personal? I know you don't believe that."

The lawyer claimed the "frightened and confused" teenager told lies to the Police under pressure, and without a lawyer present. Asking the jury to dismiss the "incredible accounts" of Simons and Tucker in relation to his alleged guilt, Mr. Richardson described him as "a frightened, albeit cocky teenager that was in the wrong place at the wrong time".

Simons' lawyer, Larry Scott, scotched this. He reiterated his client's position that Sousa who admits having been initiated into US gang the Bloods and Tucker were responsible.

Noting the tangled allegations and admitted lies each have recounted against the others, Mr. Scott told the jury: "You've really got yourself a case this time. This is the strangest case that I've ever been involved in."

The trio denies murder. The case continues, with Tucker's lawyer Owen Davies QC expected to deliver his closing address this morning.