Barbara Gayle, Staff reporter
Police personnel at the Supreme Court building, downtown Kingston, are on high alert after gunshots were fired in the area yesterday, when lawyers for Matthew's Lane resident Donald 'Zekes' Phipps were making an application for bail on behalf of their client. - RUDOLPH BROWN/CHIEF PHOTOGRAPHER
GUNSHOTS RANG out in downtown Kingston yesterday while a bail application was being made in the Home Circuit Court for well-known Matthew's Lane resident, Donald 'Zekes' Phipps. He is facing a double murder charge.
The shots were fired a few yards from the police barrier at Tower Street and King Street where Phipps' supporters had gathered in large numbers.
The supporters, passers-by and some members of the security forces dashed for cover when the shots rang out. Business operators in the area quickly closed their stores.
Arising from the incident, attorney-at-law Alecia Thomas, who was at her office at 22-24 Duke Street, was shot in the face by shotgun pellets. She was taken to the University Hospital where she was treated.
The shots echoed in the courtroom where Phipps' bail application was being made but that did not prevent the court from going ahead with the application.
Lawyers condemned the 'brazenness' of the gunmen in the crowd and spoke out against their disrespect for the rule of law.
According to the police, shots rang out shortly after 11:00 a.m. in the area where a group of people were observed on Tower Street, near King Street. Members of the security forces fired shots in the air and chased away the crowd.
There has been a large detachment of police and soldiers around the Supreme Court building since Monday where several high profile cases are taking place.
HIGH-PROFILE TRIALS
The trial of reputed gang leader Joel Andem is on in the Gun Court. The murder case of Senior Superintendent Reneto Adams and the five policemen charged with the murder of four civilians at Kraal, Clarendon, on May 7, 2003, is taking place in the Home Circuit Court. Yesterday Kevin 'Ritchie Poo', Tyndale, a member of Andem's gang, the Gideon Warriors, appeared in the Home Circuit Court on a murder charge and his case was put off for another date.
Phipps was denied bail when he appeared in court on the double murder charge. He is charged jointly with 33-year-old Garfield Williams for the murder of Rodney Leroy Farquharson and Dayton Williams, both of Bayshsore, east Kingston. The burnt bodies of the two men were found at Rose Lane, near Matthews Lane, West Kingston, on April 15.
Phipps, who is being represented by K. Churchill Neita, Q.C. and attorney-at-law Lloyd McFarlane, had applied for bail last month, but Senior Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, Paula Llewellyn, said the Crown was opposing bail for various reasons. One of them was that the main witness in the case had received two death threats.
Phipps has been remanded in custody and the case will be mentioned on November 16. A trial date has been set for December 5.
