Defence seeks to keep murder accused’s statement out

THE defence in the ongoing trial of 25 alleged members of the Tesha Miller faction of the Klansman gang on Monday mounted fierce objections to block the Crown from entering into evidence a statement collected from accused Charles McLeary, two days after a double murder in John’s Hall, Clarendon in June 2020.

According to prosecutors, McLeary along with co-accused Bjourn Thomas, Sharn Gilzene, Conroy Cadogan and Kemar Francis knowingly facilitated the commission of a serious offence — the murder of Jermaine Jones and Allen Cameron on June 26, 2020 — and were taken into custody following a highway chase which also resulted in the seizure of two motor cars in which they were travelling. The accused men allegedly ambushed and opened fire on Jones and Cameron, who were travelling in a Toyota Hiace bus.

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The statement, which was collected while McLeary was in custody at the Lionel Town Police Station on Sunday, June 28, 2020, has been a bone of contention since last Friday when a deputy superintendent of police assigned to the Major Investigative Division was on the witness stand to give evidence of his interactions McLeary that night.