More than five years after Customs officer Nigel Christian was shot dead on a dirt road in Thibou’s, the murder trial of the three men accused of killing him is drawing to a close. When proceedings resumed on Tuesday before Justice Rajiv Persaud, two witnesses took the stand, leaving only one more to go for the crown.

Saleim Harrigan, Wayne Thomas and Lasean Bully are accused of abducting Christian from his McKinnons home at gunpoint on the afternoon of July 10, 2020 and shooting him dead shortly after.

Much of Tuesday’s proceedings turned on a bag. The court has heard that a few people who knew Christian well say they never saw it in his possession. And yet it sits at the heart of the Crown’s case. The court has heard that it was recovered at Perry Bay in the days after the murder by officers directed there by the prosecution’s key witness, a driver who says he transported the three accused on the day of the killing. That driver told the court the accused had asked him to bring gasoline to burn the bags at Perry Bay, but that he did not do so.

Nigel Christian

The woman who had been in a romantic relationship with Christian for approximately three years returned to the stand on Tuesday to complete testimony that had been cut short at an earlier sitting. It was through her evidence that the bag was formally tendered into court on Tuesday.

During that earlier appearance, she told the court the bag belonged to Christian, that he used it to carry his laptop, and that she recognised it by its contents, among them tea bags, Swiss chocolate, as well as its floral interior lining. She signed the evidence bag in which it was stored. On Tuesday, the defence moved to take apart that identification piece by piece.

Under cross-examination by Wendel Alexander, counsel for Harrigan, she agreed the bag was not unique to Christian and said she was unsure where it could even be purchased. She told the court Christian had never spoken to her about fears for his safety and that she had no knowledge of any plan to harm him.

Sherfield Bowen, counsel for Thomas, pressed further. The witness acknowledged she could not recall whether the bag was open or closed when police showed it to her, or whether its contents were inside it or sitting separately at the time. She was shown her signed statement and the evidence bag she had signed and acknowledged that the two signatures appeared different. She agreed that if four identical bags were placed in front of her, she would not be able to say which one had belonged to Christian. Bowen also told her that Christian’s mother, his brother and a coworker who saw him every day had all said they had never seen the bag before. She said she was not aware of that. She maintained throughout that she had a basis for her identification.

The second witness on Tuesday was the lead investigator, an Assistant Superintendent of Police who has been giving evidence since March 20, 2026. He had previously told the court that he responded to Thibou’s on the day of the murder and later met with Harrigan and Bully separately in custody, informing each of the allegations they faced. His evidence had been paused at one point to address legal matters before resuming.

His cross examination continues this morning.

Then the prosecution is expected to call its lead investigator as its final witness before closing its case, after which the defence will present its own.