NEW YORK - Lil Wayne's assistant says he occasionally saw a handgun and people smoking marijuana on the award-winning rapper's tour bus.

But Terry Bourgeois also testified Monday he never saw Lil Wayne with a gun and didn't know whether one was on the bus in July 2007 when the 26-year-old rapper was arrested in Manhattan on gun charges.

A police officer testified last month she boarded Lil Wayne's bus after a concert because she smelled marijuana.

She said that while on the bus she saw him try to hide a gun.

Defence lawyer Stacey Richman wants the charges dismissed.

She says police falsely claimed they smelled marijuana so they could illegally board the bus.

The rapper, whose real name is Dwayne Carter, has pleaded not guilty and is free on $70,000 bail.