The murder trial of three men accused of kidnapping and killing senior Customs official Nigel Christian got underway before Justice Rajiv Persaud on Thursday, opening with dramatic testimony from a witness who says he was behind the wheel on the day of the 2020 killing.

The witness who has known the accused for years and had driven for them before, told the court that Lasean Bully, Wayne Thomas, and Saleim Harrigan told him directly that “they got a job from somebody to kill the guy.” He said he only learned the victim’s name after Christian was dead.

Christian, 44, was abducted from his McKinnons home on July 10, 2020. His body was later found in the Thibou’s area, killed by multiple gunshot wounds. All three accused maintain they are innocent.

Nigel Christian

The witness walked the court through events leading up to and including the day of the killing. He testified that the accused had previously followed Christian on multiple occasions, tracking his movements, his daily routine, and the vehicles he drove. He described Christian’s home, a concrete house in the Marble Hill area and said a RAV4 and a Nissan truck were typically parked there.

On the day itself, the witness was driving a rented silver Toyota Allion because his own car was being repaired. He said Harrigan called him to collect Bully from the hospital. After picking up Bully and his girlfriend and dropping them in Greenbay, the two men told him they needed to “check out something.” The group then picked up Thomas from Cashew Hill, at which point the witness noticed Thomas had a firearm hidden in his shoe.

The group made a stop along the way at Louis Brothers, where Bully went inside to get gloves, before driving along Friars Hill Road past Christian’s home. Seeing that his truck wasn’t there, they drove to an area behind the old Casino, where all three men changed into camouflage clothing that Bully had been carrying in a shopping bag. At that point, Harrigan told the witness to turn off his phone.

When they returned to the residence and saw Christian in the yard, the men moved quickly. All three jumped the fence, forced their way into the property at gunpoint, and within minutes emerged with Christian, loading him into his own truck, Harrigan driving, Bully up front, and Thomas in the back holding Christian at gunpoint.

The witness said he was left “stunned” and “frozen” but eventually followed the truck at a distance. When he turned into the Thibou’s area, he saw the truck speeding away and Nigel Christian lying on his back on the right side of the road, covered in blood.

Lasean Bully, of Cashew Hill; Wayne Thomas, of Hatton; and Saleim Harrigan of Greenbay — were charged with killing Christian.

Shortly after, Harrigan called asking him to come back and collect them. The witness said he complied out of fear, not wanting to “get on their wrong side.” He picked the men up from a bushy area near the APUA headquarters, they were no longer in camouflage and later dropped them in Belmont. He made a second trip to drop Thomas behind the Townhouse Mega Store, where a van collected him, before taking Bully and Harrigan to Cashew Hill when they called again saying their other ride was taking too long.

In the days that followed, the witness testified that Bully took him for a drive and described killing Christian himself shooting him in the face and then the upper body. He said the men had referred to it during the drive to Belmont as Bully’s first “duppy,” and that Thomas claimed to be in possession of Christian’s firearm.

The prosecution, led by Director of Public Prosecutions Clement Joseph alongside Crown Counsel Curtis Cornelius, has listed more than 50 potential witnesses. The trial is expected to last around six weeks. The accused are represented by Sherfield Bowen, Michael Archibald, and Wendel Alexander.