Security camera video used as evidence in the Neil Harris murder trial

A Hamilton man who was waiting for a haircut when his barber was shot to death testified today about what he saw and who he knew at the time of the murder in February 2016. The witness can’t be identified due to a publication ban.

Surveillance video from that day shows two men walking up to the barbershop on Upper Wellington with their hoods up. 18 seconds later, a tussle outside, a man falls to the ground and the hooded men run away.

The witness picked out the mugshots of Erick Reid and Odain Gardner without hesitation, the jury saw video of the photo lineup with police. He said he knew them from his neighbourhood and he says he recognized them as they walked up to the barbershop, before they put on masks.

The witness said he was waiting on a couch in the barbershop, another man was in the barber chair getting service from shop owner. He’d been getting his hair cut there every two to three weeks for a couple of years.

The witness says Reid approached him and stuck something shiny at his side, he thought it was a gun. He was told to keep his head down. Then he heard the shot and everyone ran outside, including the two accused, the two customers, and Harris, who collapsed on the sidewalk.

The witness was caught by police down the street as he was calling for a taxi and charged with murder until he explained his role. But it wasn’t until five months later, when the witness was facing theft charges of his own, that he named the two accused before the court. Until that point, he’d been telling police he didn’t know the suspects, he hadn’t seen their faces.

Odain Gardner’s defence lawyer suggested the witness didn’t see the murder at all, that he’d heard after the fact who people thought the suspects were and when he was facing theft charges, he named the two men to help himself avoid jail. He could pick them out of a lineup because he knew them, but she suggested he couldn’t have actually seen the killers.

The witness will continue on the stand on Monday.