Sat | Sep 23, 2023

Clansman Gang Trial | Defendant served in JDF up until August 2021, military witness testifies

Published:Thursday | January 27, 2022 | 1:03 PM
The trial is being heard in the Home Circuit Court.

A Jamaica Defence Force witness this morning revealed that the ex-soldier accused of being a member of the Clansman-One Don Gang was still with the army up to August last year.

The lieutenant confirmed this morning during his testimony at the trial in the Home Circuit Court that the defendant, Jeremaine Robinson, entered the force in August 2015 and served until August 22, 2021.

The witness, however, did not say whether the defendant, who was attached the engineer regiment, was released from the force or if he left voluntarily.

A former member of the gang had first revealed that Robinson had told him that he was a soldier.

According to the ex-gangster, Robinson was one of the bodyguards to reputed One Don Gang leader Andre 'Blackman' Bryan and he spent his free time guarding the alleged don with an Ak 47 rifle.

Another former gang member had also testified that he once saw Robinson in a uniform at a checkpoint in Spanish Town, St Catherine in 2018 and that he had told soldiers to let him through and had asked the witness for Blackman's number.

That witness said Robinson later called him to ask if had heard from Blackman, who was in prison at the time, while reportedly stating that he wanted to "tun up back de ting".

According to the witness, Robinson said, “Di ting come in like a joke ting.”

This, he said, meant that he “wanted more people to be dead and more killings in the Spanish Town area.”

Bryan and 32 other alleged gang members 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.

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