A man accused of carrying out the first murder in Orkney for 25 years was the son of a police constable who attended the scene, a court was told yesterday.

Michael Ross - who was 15 at the time - is accused of walking into an Indian restaurant in Kirkwall in June 1994 and shooting Shamsuddin Mahmood, a 26-year-old waiter from Bangladesh, in the head.

On the first day of his trial at the High Court in Glasgow, the jury was shown a video recording taken inside the restaurant in Bridge Street, Kirkwall, on the day after the shooting.

Among items shown in the footage was a blood-stained blue jacket and a shell casing, as well as a small bullet hole in a wall surrounded by red spots. Asked what was surrounding the hole, Ian Clingan, a scenes of crime officer from Northern Constabulary who travelled to Orkney in the hours after the shooting, replied: “Red splattering and actually in the hole was the remains of a bullet.” Mr Clingan said that he was not familiar with the type of cartridge, but was advised to speak to one of the police officers outside, PC Eddie Ross, who was a “keen shooter”. Brian McConnachie. QC, for the prosecution, asked Mr Clingan: “Do you know if he is related to the accused?” The witness replied: “The accused is his son.”

Earlier, the brother of the waiter told the court that he was baffled by why anyone would want to murder him. Abul Shafuddin, 63, a barrister from Bangladesh, said that he knew of “no reason” why his brother was targeted.

Mr Ross, now 29, from Inverness, denies entering the Mumataz Indian tandoori restaurant in Kirkwall on June 2, 1994, while wearing a mask, and shooting the waiter. He is accused of attempting to defeat the ends of justice by changing his clothing and disposing of the weapon. He is further charged with, while acting with others whose identities are unknown, committing a breach of the peace outside the restaurant by shouting, swearing, uttering threats of violence and racist abuse. The offence was allegedly committed between May 3 and May 24, 1994.

He denies all charges and has lodged a special defence of alibi claiming that he was was cycling in another part of Orkney at the time.

Mr Shafudin said that Shamsuddin gained a BA degree in Bangladesh, but was not interested in studying to become a barrister. After living with his brother in Southampton, he moved to Orkney. Cross-examining, Donald Findlay, QC, read from a statement Mr Shafuddin gave to police at the time of the murder. In it, he said that he and his brother had argued over a local girl in Orkney and that he had planned to marry. Mr Findlay also read from a statement that the witness gave, saying he was annoyed because he thought the girl may have been of “easy virtue”. However, Mr Shafuddin told the court that he could not remember the argument. The trial, before Lord Hardie, continues.