Klansman gang leader Andre "Blackman" Bryan (left) and a co-accused leave the Supreme Court in downtown Kingston on Tuesday. (Photo: Llewellyn Wynter)
The women of the Klansmen
Since the trial of the just over 30 accused members of the Klansman gang began in September 2021, a group of women have hardly missed a day, faithfully delivering lunches and other items of comfort and remaining behind to catch a glimpse of the accused when they are trucked from the Supreme Court in downtown Kingston back to their correctional facilities each evening.
On Tuesday, the penultimate day of the long-running trial, the joy among the group was palpable as they celebrated with the relatives of the three men who had just been released by Chief Justice Bryan Sykes.
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The three men — Kevaughn Green (the brother of gang leader Andre “Blackman” Bryan); Kalifa Williams, otherwise called Baba; and Pete Miller, also known as Smokie — were on Tuesday morning declared not guilty on count two of the indictment brought by the Crown, which addresses membership of a criminal organisation.
Sykes, who has gone through 24 of the 25 counts on the indictment, is now assessing count two in respect of the remaining accused. So far in the trial, which began with 33 accused, nine have been freed. One was killed while on bail, leaving 23 accused still before the courts. Williams, the Jamaica Observer subsequently learned, has another case before the courts so, while he was freed in the Klansman trial, he will remain in custody.
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“I feel good, because at the end a the day wi a walk the road fi them, because we a feel the pain to, ennuh. Sometime mi out here, mi stress till mi all a sleep. Mi cry, but mi stop cry because God seh stop cry, leave every vengeance to Him because what is to be fi Him, a fi Him. But I know him a come, no matter weh them try,” one of the women, who said her spouse was still on trial, told the Observer.
“Mi husband — nine-year me an him deh. One time them nearly mek mi have heart attack, tell me seh him nah go come out, mek mi go home and cry. Yuh fi understand seh we a human being and we a go feel bad, not even the worse yuh nuh want si go dem deh place deh,” she told the Observer passionately.
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“Him a come a him yard, him alright man, him name nah call pon nutten,” she said before adding, “But God good, mum, mi just glad them a come out, all them haffi do a just behave themself and stay far.”
The woman, when asked how she managed since her ‘husband’ was behind bars, defiantly told the Observer, “I am a working person.”
When asked how she dealt with loneliness, she boldly declared, “Mi talk to mi husband.”
Asked how this was possible, she said, “Pon phone like your phone. The warder lend dem phone mek dem call and hail yuh up and so,” she said while two others nodded in confirmation.
“Mi know fada God a go give me my heart desire. Mi go mi church; I’m a church person and I know how fi pray,” she said to sounds of commiseration from those around her. She told the Observer that they have developed a strange bond because of the trial, emphasising that they didn’t necessarily know each other before.
One other member of the group, whose relative was one of those freed on Tuesday, said, “The way mi feel, mi can’t even talk; mi nuh mus feel happy. Him never do nutten. Him did deh a jail and as him come out in 2017 them pick him back up right away. Him never tek part inna nutting,” said the woman, who had initially retreated upon seeing the Observer team.
On Tuesday Bryan’s mother was among those waiting at the back entrance of the Supreme Court for a glimpse of her still-incarcerated son as he left the court’s premises, even as she waited for his brother to be processed and released.
Bryan, who exited the court cuffed to another accused with his head covered by a large handkerchief, removed it once he was standing in the back of the police truck and waved to his mother with a bright smile. She waved back vigorously, her emotions naked on her face.
The Observer was reliably informed that when Green exited the courtroom after being told he was free to go by the judge was heard saying he would have to leave Jamaica as he could not afford to remain in the island.
Also on Tuesday, Tomrick Taylor, otherwise called Fancy Ras, the man Bryan used as a decoy for shootings done in the Shelter Rock community in Spanish Town, was found “guilty of being a member” of the gang. Bryan and his henchman Ted Prince were also declared guilty of involvement in another murder by the trial judge on Tuesday.
Bryan, who Justice Sykes declared to be the leader of the gang, and Ted Prince had been accused of facilitating the murder of an unknown male — count 19 on the 25-count indictment — at Phil’s Hardware store in Spanish Town, St Catherine, in 2018.
The trial judge said based on the evidence he was satisfied that Bryan had issued the instructions and that Prince had acted on them.
The matter resumes this morning at 10:00 with the promise from the chief justice that it would be the final sitting before the guilty are sentenced.
