Digicel hands over call records demanded by cops
Published:Thursday | December 16, 2021 | 12:10 AMTanesha Mundle/Staff Reporter
The prosecution in the Clansman-One Don Gang trial indicated on Wednesday that the police have now received the long-awaited telephone data from telecommunications provider Digicel.
The prosecutor advised Chief Justice Bryan Sykes that he was informed that the package with data had arrived in the island and was with the police’s Communication Forensic and Cybercrimes Unit.
On Monday, the prosecution, after expressing that it had gleaned that the company appeared reluctant to submit the information, asked the court registrar to prepare a subpoena.
However, the court was told that the subpoena, which was expected to have been served on Monday evening, had not been issued.
The prosecution recently disclosed that the police were still awaiting telephone data from the country’s two main service providers.
Shortly after, FLOW Jamaica complied with the request.
One of the two main witnesses, who are both ex-gang members, testified that he had used three phones to secretly record conversations with alleged ex-cronies, which were turned over to the police.
The prosecution is, therefore, seeking call data and cell site information from the phones that were seized from the alleged gangsters.
In the meantime, the trial has been adjourned to January 10, 2022.
The trial will run throughout the upcoming Hilary term, with the exception of a two-week break, January 24-February 4, to allow for the completion of another trial that the presiding judge has.
According to the chief justice, the One Don case, which is the largest gang trial in the English-speaking Caribbean, is expected to end next June.
However, he said that there is “still a significant way to go”. Seventeen out of the 31 witnesses in the trial have already taken the stand.
The judge commended the police for their handling of the investigation. Lawyers, too, were praised for showing commitment that has allowed the trial to proceed without undue delays.
He also thanked the court’s information technology staff for technical support that has facilitated the trial being conducted via video and audio link, connecting the two courtrooms that are being used to accommodate the 33 defendants and more than 30 attorneys-at- law.
The reputed leader of the gang, Andre ‘Blackman’ Bryan, and his alleged cronies are being tried on an indictment with 25 counts under the Criminal Justice (Suppression of Criminal Organizations) Act and the Firearms Act.
The One Don Gang is a breakaway faction of the Clansman Gang.