‘ABSOLUTE RUBBISH’

The defence by an alleged Clansman-One Don gang member that there were multiple entrances to a furniture shop occupied by him, where an illegal rifle was found in 2019, was on Wednesday dismissed as “absolute rubbish” by the presiding judge.

Justice Bryan Sykes, before convicting Roel Taylor of illegal possession of firearm and illegal possession of ammunition, blasted the defence put forward by him, his witness and his lawyer, Zara Lewis, as “total nonsense”.

Taylor, who is accused of being a member of the gang and who is also the cousin of reputed leader Andre ‘Blackman’ Bryan, is among 26 defendants awaiting their ultimate fate in the case.

The judge said the defence’s theory did not make sense given their claim that the shop had a back door that could not be closed, coupled with the evidence that a key to the front door of the shop was found at Taylor’s house.

“What would be the point of having a key to unlock a door if it really doesn’t matter because the back is open? That makes no sense to me,” the judge said.

“If you can have a business and anybody can walk into it, what’s the point? I reject the defence’s account as absolute nonsense,” Justice Sykes continued.

Additionally, he said: “What’s the point of having a front door if the cross-examination theory being projected is that there are five other places that you can enter?

“It is simply not true,” he said.

An Ak-47 rifle and ten 7.62 millimetre rounds were found at Taylor’s shop on Jones Avenue in Spanish Town, St Catherine, on June 25, 2019.

A senior policeman had testified that the illegal weapon was found hidden in a stack of boards at a furniture shop when a police team went to arrest Taylor.

On seeing the weapon, the inspector told the court that he said to Taylor, “Wah dat a do deh so?”

Taylor, he recalled, replied saying, “Mi nuh know nutten bout dat, officer.”

Prior to the search of the furniture shop, the court also heard that Taylor’s house, which is nearby, was first searched and five cell phones, several SIM cards, and $265,000 were found.

The keys to the furniture shop were also found in a chest of drawers at Taylor’s house.

Lewis had argued that her client had no knowledge that the weapon was there and that other persons had access to the shop as it had a door that could not close.

However, the judge, who had indicated then that her argument “was not happening”, reiterated on Wednesday that Taylor was in possession of the illegal weapon and ammunition by virtue of being in possession of the key that opened the door to the shop.

“I am satisfied so that I feel sure that this place does not have multiple entrances and no other entry other than through the door,” he said.

Meanwhile, the judge said that he has found that a criminal organisation existed by virtue of the evidence given by one of the ex-gangsters about the double murder of a couple and arson of their home in New Nursery Fisheries, St Catherine, in September 2017.

The former community don had given evidence that before going to the community, Bryan and several other alleged members had gathered in a yard on Jones Avenue in Spanish Town to plan the deadly mission.

A man identified as Bobo Spark, a top shooter in a rival faction of the gang, was said to be the target. However, the witness said that when the men arrived at the community, the gang kicked off the gate and the door to the couple’s home and shot them multiple times before setting their house ablaze.

After looking at the evidence, the judge said that even before the men allegedly left for the mission, they would have met the legal standard for what a criminal organisation is as they were more than three and they had a common intent to commit a serious offence.

The judge concluded that he accepted the former don’s account and that the sequence of how the murder unfolded mirrored the account that was given by a witness from the community, whose account he also accepted.

The judge also found that the witness had properly identified the men involved as there was proper lighting based on his account, which would have met the legal standard for identification.

Meanwhile, he said he could not accept the other ex-gangster’s account as he had not met the legal standard in terms of identification in regard to lighting.

Bryan, along with Brian Morris, Fabian Johnson, Jahzeal Blake, Tareek James, Dylan McLean and Michael Whitley, was charged in connection with the murder, with knowingly facilitating the commission of an applicable offence by a criminal organisation to wit: murder.

The men were also charged with knowingly facilitating the commission of an applicable offence by a criminal organisation to wit: arson.

Of note is that all of the defendants were identified as being involved from the planning stage by the gang’s driver while the community don had identified all of them except for Brian and Johnson.

The judge, however, has already indicated that based on the evidence, Johnson is a member of the gang.

Justice Sykes will continue giving his findings today.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com