Murder-accused Kevin Warner told detectives that victim Kellon Hill hit his "small" friend Gary Hollis with a crash helmet so he stepped in and hit Mr. Hill over the head with a walking cane.

Warner said his cane broke when he used it to hit Mr. Hill and the victim fell, after which someone stabbed him. However Warner, 19, insisted that he did not stab the victim and does not know who did.

Mr. Hill, 18, died from a stab wound to the heart inflicted upon him as he left a party at Elbow Beach late on the night of August 9 last year. Warner was arrested the following day. In a taped Police interview played to the Supreme Court murder trial yesterday, he explained that the incident unfolded after he arrived at the scene in a taxi.

"When I arrived at Elbow Beach there was Kellon Hill and Gary Hollis like, having a conflict between each other. And I just saw Kellon approaching Gary with a helmet and at my point of view it looked like he was picking on him, so I hit Kellon with a cane.

"And after that it was like a whole bunch of people just ran to the situation and I see a lot of blood. I saw a lot of blood. And he got up off the ground then he just went back on the ground collapsed."

Warner explained he had a walking cane with him because his knee was "messed up". He said he'd used it to hit Mr. Hill once in the head. He explained to the detectives interviewing him: "I got involved because Hollis is so small and to me it looked like he (Mr. Hill) was trying to pick on Hollis 'cos it looked like a grand man trying to fight a little boy to me."

He said he could not recall who subsequently became embroiled in the larger fight and did not see who stabbed Mr. Hill. Warner said he ran off along Elbow Beach to the Coral Beach resort with Hollis, Devon Hairston another friend and co-defendant in the case and a fourth youth named Danerio Tacklyn. Warner said he knew Hairston was not involved in the fight because he'd seen him standing next to some girls at the time. He did not see Mr. Tacklyn until he started running.

Warner told the detectives he and the three others who ran from the scene eventually made their way to Ord Road where they flagged down a taxi. Another co-accused, Kellan Lewis, was already in the taxi along with a male that Warner identified only by the surname Benjamin. They all went to Lewis' house in White Hill and went to sleep until the Police arrived at 5 a.m.

Asked by the detectives if he and his friends discussed the incident afterwards, Warner replied that they had not, explaining: "No one didn't want to talk about it. You know how young we are? We guys don't see that, this is not America, we don't see this type of stuff every day. You don't even see this probably in a lifetime."

Prosecutors and prosecution witnesses have alleged a different version of events that Mr. Hill was hit over the head with a cane after he had already fallen victim to an attack at the hands of others.

Opening the case for the Crown on June 2, prosecutor Michael McColm alleged that Lewis, 17, and Hollis, 16, snatched a gold chain from around Mr. Hill's neck. A fight ensued, and Warner, Hairston, 18, and a girl, Zharrin Simmons, 17, allegedly joined the other two in striking Mr. Hill.

Next, Mr. McColm said, Lewis removed a knife from his pants and stabbed the victim around his chest and body, before Simmons stuck Mr. Hill with a screwdriver. The court heard Mr. Hill stayed on his feet and tried to get away but was struck with a walking cane by Warner. The defendants deny all the charges.

After the jury finished hearing the interview tapes yesterday, prosecutor Robert Welling closed the case for the Crown after almost six weeks of evidence. Judge Charles-Etta Simmons told the jury to come back tomorrow, as today will be taken up by legal arguments.