The murder trial of three men accused of kidnapping and killing senior Customs official Nigel Christian opened Thursday before Justice Rajiv Persaud with explosive testimony from a key witness who said the accused told him they had been hired to carry out the killing.

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

Christian, 44, was abducted from his McKinnons home on July 10, 2020, and later found in the Thibou’s area with multiple gunshot wounds. All three accused have pleaded not guilty.

The witness told the court the men had previously followed Christian and monitored his movements. On the day of the killing, he said he was driving a rented silver Toyota Allion when he picked up the three men, noticed Thomas had a firearm hidden in his shoe, and later saw them change into camouflage clothing after stopping to collect gloves.

He testified that the men jumped Christian’s fence, forced him at gunpoint into his own truck and drove off, with Thomas holding him in the back. The witness said he followed at a distance and later saw Christian lying on the roadside in Thibou’s, bleeding, as the truck sped away.

He said Harrigan later called him to collect them from a nearby bushy area and that he complied out of fear. In the days after the killing, he testified, Bully described shooting Christian in the face and upper body, while Thomas claimed to have taken Christian’s firearm.

Prosecutors, led by Director of Public Prosecutions Clement Joseph and Crown Counsel Curtis Cornelius, have listed more than 50 witnesses. The trial, expected to last about six weeks, continues.