A total of 18 men who are charged as being members of the Tesha Miller-led faction of the St Catherine-based Clansman gang have all been remanded in custody until March 7.
The men appeared in the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston on Thursday.
Nine of the accused made their first appearance in court, joining the nine who were remanded the previous week.
The new accused are Conroy Cadogan, Kemar Miller, Carlos Williams, Kemar Francis, Nashawn Guest, Dwayne Frater, Lamar Rowe, Reynaldo Spence, and Charles McCleary.
Those who appeared last week in court and again on Thursday are Jermaine Clarke, Kamaly Winter, Giovannie McDonald, Sean Pottinger, Jerome Spyke, Owen Billings, Ryan Harrison, Michael Wildman, and Ramone Stewart.
All 18 accused men are charged with participating in a criminal organisation.
During the court proceedings, High Court Judge Justice Vinette Graham-Allen was informed that nine of the men are to settle their legal representation.
She said once legal representation is settled for the accused, a date is to be set for the hearing of their respective bail applications.
Meanwhile, four other men are to face identification parades in the coming days and could be slapped with gang-related charges relative to the Clansman gang.
The 18 accused gangsters were subsequently remanded until March.
The indictment on which the men are to be tried includes 12 offences, ranging from murder, wounding with intent, robbery with aggravation, illegal possession of firearm, and shooting with intent.
In December, the police said 31 suspected members of the St Catherine-based Clansman gang were detained following a nine-month-long probe, with 13 of the men being arrested during a security forces operation on Thursday, December 28.
Head of police’s crime and security portfolio, Deputy Commissioner of Police Fitz Bailey, sought to clarify at the time that the 31 overall suspected gang members do not include any of those who were released during the recently concluded trial of members of the One Don faction of the Clansman gang that was led by the now incarcerated gang boss, Andre ‘Blackman’ Bryan.
The months-long probe was directly focused on the section of the Clansman gang that is reportedly under the direction of the incarcerated Tesha Miller.
The two factions of the Clansman gang are enemies, the senior lawman indicated at the time.
Both Bryan and Miller are currently incarcerated.
Miller, otherwise called ‘Hombre’, of Dela Vega City in Spanish Town, is awaiting the outcome of an appeal of his 2019 conviction relative to accessory before the fact to murder and accessory after the fact to murder, all in relation to the shooting death of former Chairman of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC), Douglas Chambers.
Chambers was shot dead outside the JUTC’s head office and bus depot in Twickenham Park, Spanish Town on June 27, 2008.
Interestingly, Bryan was charged with Chambers’ murder but was subsequently dismissed of the charge.
In March of last year, Bryan was among 15 members of the One Don faction of the gang who were convicted. He is now serving 39 years and six months in prison for several gang-related crimes, including being the leader of a criminal organisation and seven counts of facilitating the commission of serious offences, including the double murder of a couple and the torching of their dwelling house with them inside the structure.
