Witness says gang leader killed JUTC boss

A former high-ranking member of the One Don Gang testified yesterday that the reputed leader told him he murdered former Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) chairman Douglas Chambers.

He was gunned down at the JUTC depot in Spanish Town, St Catherine, in 2008. Chambers was reportedly killed because of a restructuring he was carrying out at the state-owned bus company, which reportedly affected the collection of extortion monies. Reputed leader of the One Don Gang Andre 'Blackman' Bryan was charged for his murder but was acquitted after he was found not guilty. Reputed leader of the Clansman Gang, Tesha Miller, was, however, last year found guilty of accessory before and after the fact in relation to Chamber's death.

But yesterday, the prosecution witness testified that Bryan had reportedly confided in him about the murder and about his plans for disposing of the murder weapon.

"Him show me the gun that he had use to kill Douglas Chambers. Him say it put two big hole inna him head," he testified. The witness also said Bryan had explained that Chambers was killed because he was "stopping his food".

According to the witness, Bryan also told him that he gave a man who he called "Marlon" the gun to sell with strict instructions. The witness said Bryan told the man that the gun must be sold in Clarendon or another parish, but he did not want it in St Catherine.

The witness made the disclosure while testifying that the gang would have meetings with specific members about contract killings and that he was not invited to those meetings or privy to the information. The prosecution witness, who said he joined the gang in 2016, also told the court that he had acted as a "look-out man" when alleged members of the gang had reportedly killed a man and had buried him in St Catherine.

The witness, who is testifying via video link in the Home Circuit Court, testified that two alleged members of the gang, who he called 'Ezi' [defendant Marco Miller] and 'Jim Brown [defendant Dwight Hall], had reportedly stabbed the man to death, sometime between 2 a.m. and 3 a.m. while they and others were at a party in St Catherine.