An alleged witness to a shooting in St. George denied lying to a jury to protect his friend who is accused of being the shooter.

Darren Hodsoll, 19, instead claimed that detectives offered him a "deal" in exchange for falsely implicating Dwayne Signor in earlier Police interviews.

Mr. Hodsoll, from St. George, was at a reggae party at the Royal Artillery Association club early on Easter Sunday when Shawn Williams, 18, was shot in the back during a brawl.

Signor, 29, from St. George, is said to have been the gunman, having seized the weapon during a scuffle from Khyri Smith-Williams, 19, from Paget.

Signor and Mr. Hodsoll are friends from St. George and were part of a group of men from the town hanging out in the venue that night.

Mr. Hodsoll was originally interviewed as a suspect in the case, but was yesterday questioned as a witness in the prosecution case against Signor and Smith-Williams.

When he was interviewed by the Police in the days after the shooting, Mr. Hodsoll told them he saw Signor nicknamed Twiggz run into the games room where the shooting occurred.

But giving evidence at Supreme Court yesterday, he told the jury: "No, I didn't see Twiggz run in the room."

Asked by prosecutor Robert Welling why he told Police the opposite, Mr. Hodsoll replied: "I had been told to say that."–"Who told you to say that?" inquired Mr. Welling.

"The investigators," replied the witness. "They gave me a deal."

Mr. Hodsoll went on to claim the deal was struck in his cell, prior to him participating in the taped Police interview, and would see the case against him dropped.

"They kept saying 'off the record'," he claimed.

"That's a lie isn't it? that they cut you a deal," suggested the prosecutor.

Mr. Hodsoll denied that.

"Are you trying, by telling untruths, to get Dwayne Signor out of trouble?" inquired Mr. Welling.

"No," replied Mr. Hodsoll.

"But you're his friend. And you're still his friend today," said Mr. Welling.

"Not really," replied Mr. Hodsoll.

"You haven't done a deal with the Police, have you?" insisted the prosecutor. "You've just said that to the jury to mislead them about the things you said against Dwayne Signor in your Police interview. Isn't that the truth?"

"No," replied Mr. Hodsoll once again.

Signor is accused of attempting to murder Mr. Williams, shooting at him with a loaded firearm with intent to do grievous bodily harm, and possessing a firearm and a 9 mm bullet. Smith-Williams is accused of carrying a firearm and going armed in public so as to cause terror.

They the charges and the case continues.