Supreme Court Judge, Justice Vinette Graham-Allen, has declared that “nobody can hold the court at ransom” in response to the absence of 14 of the 23 alleged members of the Tesha Miller faction of the Clansman gang from the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston on Thursday.
The accused men’s absence was due to industrial action that was taken by correctional officers at the Horizon Adult Remand Centre in Kingston.
The seemingly peeved judge did not welcome the delay, as she said she has been instructed by Chief Justice Bryan Sykes to ensure, where appropriate, that the matter reaches on the trial list.
The case management hearing was expected to start at 10am on Thursday, but up to 11:37 am, only eight of the defendants, including the alleged gang leader, Tesha Miller, were seated in the dock.
Another defendant arrived shortly after the matter got started in court.
A senior prosecutor then advised Graham-Allen that despite the efforts of the police, the accused persons who were being held on remand at Horizon could not be brought to court.
Seemingly infuriated by the development, Graham-Allen said it would not be prudent to continue with the matter on that day. She then set issued bench warrants for the absent accused men.
“I will just state again that the rule of law must prevail in this country, so in the circumstances, the court will issue bench warrants for all the accused persons who are absent,” she said.
“No one, nobody, can hold the court at ransom. The rule of law prevails in this country, and so, I am going to issue bench warrants for the next date the case is fixed for,” Graham-Allen declared.
She insisted that a trial date should be set before July 31, pointing to instructions from the chief justice to have the matter placed on the trial list.
“I shall refer to the number of gang cases in this small jurisdiction in our beloved country. We cannot have this; we need to get the cases tried,” Graham-Allen indicated.
At the next sitting, the status of the prosecution’s case will be addressed, and representation for some defendants is to be settled.
Meanwhile, prosecutors disclosed to the judge that another person is expected to join the accused men on the next court date.
The police reported on Wednesday that a medical practitioner was arrested by investigators on reasonable suspicion of having breached the anti-gang legislation.
Dr Paul Alondo Robinson, 65, operates a medical practice in the Young Street area of Spanish Town, St Catherine, the police reported.
The case management hearing is to continue on July 11, 2024.
Miller and the others are charged and indicted under the Criminal Justice (Suppression of Criminal Organisations) Act (Anti-Gang Legislation). They are all in custody.
Prosecutors said the 23 men are alleged to be part of a criminal organisation – the Clansman Gang, ‘Tesha faction’, allegedly led by Miller – and reportedly participated in several criminal activities between August 5, 2017 and August 22, 2022 in St Catherine.
The charges against them include murder, conspiracy to murder, attempted murder, robbery with aggravation, illegal possession of firearm, and illegal possession of ammunition.
Miller is the only person among the accused men who is charged with leadership of a criminal organisation.
He is presently serving nearly 39 years at the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre in Kingston following a conviction for accessory before and after the fact in connection with the 2008 murder of then Chairman of the Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC), Douglas Chambers.
The alleged gang leader is awaiting an appeal against that conviction and the sentence that followed it.
