A man accused of a gun murder told a jury yesterday he was selling crack cocaine on the night of the shooting.

Kiari Tucker, 22, said he saw Morlan Steede in the Deepdale area hours before he was shot, but he had nothing to do with his murder.

Prosecutors have alleged that Mr Tucker chased and fatally shot Mr Steede in the Deepdale area of Pembroke on November 3, 2017.

Mr Tucker said that at some time on the afternoon of the shooting, a friend gave him a ride to Court Street, where he sold crack cocaine.

Mr Tucker added: “It was just a regular day. I go up there on a daily basis.”

He said he could not remember how long he was there, but by the evening he had sold all the drugs and decided he wanted to go to Deepdale to buy cannabis for himself.

Mr Tucker added: “At the time, those guys had some good weed. I like smoking good weed, so I go to whoever has it at the time.

“I was asking a friend if I could borrow his bike when my friend pulled up and said he was going to go down there and that he would take me.”

He said they rode to a vacant house near Deepdale and found a man he had bought cannabis from the previous day.

Mr Tucker added that there were about ten men at the building, including Mr Steede, who he knew on a casual basis.

He told the court: “We would speak to each other in passing. I don’t really know him like that where I would go to his house or he would come on over my house, but we did know each other.”

Mr Tucker said he bought some cannabis and rode with his friend back to Court Street and walked to a spot on Curving Avenue where he stored his crack cocaine and a scale to prepare more for sale.

The defendant, who took the stand in Supreme Court in his own defence, added that he heard music coming from a “gambling spot” in Middletown as he returned to Court Street and decided to stop by.

Mr Tucker said: “I don’t really gamble down there. I use it as a chill spot.

“I can’t say exactly how long I was there for, but it was probably about an hour or 30 minutes.

“It had been a long day. I can’t say if I got a drink when I first got there, but I did get a drink, I rolled up some weed I got earlier and watched them play a poker-type game.”

Mr Tucker added that he left his jacket at the Middletown property because just before he left he went to call a friend on Court Street and got “caught up”.

He told the court he walked back to the Court Street area and stayed there until he heard that there had been a shooting in Deepdale.

Mr Tucker said: “When there’s a shooting, no matter where it is, police get hot. Business slows up. No one’s coming out to buy anything.

“At the end of the day, it didn’t make much sense to stay around Court Street.”

He said he was at his godmother’s apartment the next day, next door to his own apartment, when he saw armed police and heard them shout his name.

Mr Tucker added that he decided to hide under clothes in his godmother’s closet because he was scared.

He added: “I was afraid of the police in general and also of going back to jail. I was out of jail not even two months.”

Mr Tucker said he had no idea at the time why he was arrested — and could not explain how gunshot residue was found on his pants and handkerchief.

Mr Tucker told Carrington Mahoney, for the Crown, that he had sold drugs since he was 13 or 14, but only became involved in the drug trade in a major way when he returned home from Alabama in the US in 2013.

He also admitted he could see himself make at least one drug sale in the CCTV footage seen by the court, but denied a suggestion that he was “fearless”.

Mr Mahoney asked why Mr Tucker was scared of the police, but was prepared to sell drugs while he was recorded by police CCTV cameras.

Mr Tucker said: “The police aren’t right there at the time.”

He rejected Mr Mahoney’s suggestion that the difference was that he knew he had murdered Mr Steede.

The trial continues.

• It is The Royal Gazette’s policy not to allow comments on stories regarding court cases. As we are legally liable for any libellous or defamatory comments made on our website, this move is for our protection as well as that of our readers.