Waiter died after 'single shot'

Shamsuddin Mahmood died after being shot in Kirkwall

A woman has told a murder trial how a masked man shot a waiter dead with a single shot in an Orkney restaurant 14 years ago.

Michael Ross, 29, denies murdering 26-year-old Shamsuddin Mahmood at the Mumutaz restaurant in Kirkwall.

Witness Marion Flaws told the High Court in Glasgow she saw the victim - who had been serving a family - lying bleeding on the floor.

Mr Ross, of Inverness, was 15 at the time of the waiter's death.

Ms Flaws told the second day of the trial that a man with his face masked and a hood over his head entered the restaurant.

She said she heard one shot and seconds later Mr Mahmood lay dying.

Shamol was lying on the restaurant floor. He was bleeding from just above the eye Marion Flaws Witness

The court was told that when the shot was fired, Mr Mahmood - also known as Shamol - was serving a family of six, which included two children.

Ms Flaws told Brian McConnachie QC, prosecuting: "I turned round and saw a man with a mask and a hood.

"I thought that it was someone into rob the restaurant. He walked right up the restaurant - I heard a shot. I was nearest the door and walked out.

"I thought that he was going to shoot everyone, so I got out."

Ms Flaws also told the court that seconds after she fled, the gunman came out.

She walked down one down lane and he went down another.

Children upset

The court heard that Ms Flaws re-entered the restaurant through a side door.

She said that when she went back in, the people who had been at the table earlier had moved and that there was a lot of shouting and screaming.

Marion Flaws described how the victim was shot

Ms Flaws added that the children there were upset.

She also told the trial: "Shamol was lying on the restaurant floor. He was bleeding from just above the eye.

"His glasses were lying on the floor - one lens of his glasses was broken."

Mr Ross is also 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 Indian restaurant by shouting, swearing, uttering threats of violence and racist abuse.

The offence was allegedly committed between 3 May and 24 May 1994.

Mr Ross is also accused of committing a breach of the peace on 19 May that year in Papdale Woods, Kirkwall.

He denies all charges and has lodged a special defence of alibi claiming he was nowhere near the Indian restaurant or Kirkwall town centre, but was cycling in another part of Orkney.

Mr Ross's father was a police constable at the scene, the trial has heard.

A scenes of crime officer gave evidence that Pc Eddie Ross was one of the officers at the restaurant after the shooting.

The killing of Mr Mahmood, originally from Bangladesh, was the first murder in Orkney for 25 years. It sparked one of Northern Constabulary's largest ever investigations.

The trial, which could last several weeks, continues.