Tight security for Clansman Trial
Published:Monday | September 20, 2021 | 10:36 AM
There is a heavy police presence in downtown Kingston in the vicinity of the Home Circuit Court for the trial of Andre 'Blackman' Bryan and 32 of his alleged cronies in the Clansman Gang.
One woman is among the 33 alleged gangsters being tried by a judge alone under the Criminal Justice (Suppression of Criminal Organizations) Act, 2014, better known as the anti-gang legislation
They are on a 25-count indictment.
The 33 defendants were among 53 alleged gang members arrested and charged under the anti–gang legislature but 20 of them were later freed because of insufficient evidence.
The trial which is believed to be the largest anti-gang trial in the English-speaking Caribbean will feature 43 witnesses, four prosecutors and about 40 defence attorneys.
In light of the large number of accused that will need to be accommodated inside the court and present realities brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic, the trial will be accommodated in two courtrooms aided by technology.
The One Don Gang was reportedly established following a split of the Clansman gang during an internal power struggle between reputed leader of the Clansman Tesha Miller and Bryan who allegedly was the top lieutenant in the Clansman gang.
Control of the lucrative extortion racket, which reportedly rakes in $1.5 million daily, was said by the police to have been at the heart of the conflict which for years had been a major factor fuelling the high incidents of crime in the parish.
Miller is currently serving a 38-year and nine-month prison sentence following his conviction last January on charges of accessory before and after the fact of murder, in relation to the 2008 murder of Douglas Chamber, the chairman of the state-owned Jamaica Urban Transit Company.
According to police statistics, Jamaica has 379 gangs, of which 262 are considered active.
They accounted for 802, or 61 per cent, of the country's 1,323 murders in 2020.
Anti-gang offences and penalties
* Forming or establishing criminal organisation – A maximum of up to 25 years.
* Being a part of, participating in or facilitating serious offence by criminal organisation – A term not exceeding 25 years.
* Leadership, management or direction of a criminal organisation – A term not exceeding 30 years.
* Knowingly providing a benefit to a criminal organisation – A term not exceeding 20 years.
* Knowingly obtaining a benefit from a criminal organisation – A term not exceeding 15 years.
* Knowingly aiding and abetting criminal organisation or becoming an accessory before or after the fact in carrying out serious offence – at term not exceeding 20 years.
Gangs prosecuted under the anti-gang act
* Burgher Gully Gang — six males — freed after being found not guilty by Justice Courtney Day in the Home Circuit Court in December 2018.
* Dexter Street Gang — 15 males and four females — freed in October 2019 in the Home Circuit Court after the main witness disappeared.
* King Valley Gang — nine men originally indicted — three freed during the trial — six freed in the Home Circuit in July 2020 after presiding judge, Chief Justice Bryan Sykes found that the evidence was weak.
* Uchence Wilson Gang — 21 males and four females placed on trial — 15 freed including all the women – 9 found guilty in the Home Circuit Court in December 2020 including the leader Uchence Wilson who was sentenced to 26 years in prison.
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