‘Ersela’, ‘Anjanette’, ‘Vanquisha’: tests retrace gang gun history

A handgun that was reportedly recovered from the alleged bodyguard of reputed One Don gang leader Andre ‘Blackman’ Bryan featured in three of the 10 murders that have been linked to the notorious St Catherine-based criminal organisation.

The court also heard that another weapon, which is unrecovered and is believed to have been part of the gang’s weaponry, was used in two of the murders, while the second recovered gun that was used in one of the killings has been linked to 10 murders in general.

The revelation was made during the trial Tuesday by a ballistics expert, who used the recovered cartridge cases and rounds from the different scenes to ascertain the firearm used and its linkages to the different crime scenes.

The handgun, a .45 Sig Sauer semi-automatic pistol, was reportedly taken from defendant Tareek ‘CJ’ James in November 2017, during a shoot-out with the police in Spanish Town, St Catherine.

James was identified by two ex-gangsters as one of One Don’s top marksmen and Bryan’s personal bodyguard.

During the presentation of a ballistic match report on Tuesday, the expert revealed that his analysis found that the weapon, which was assigned the name ‘Ersela’ by an automated system, was a multiple-activity firearm, meaning that it has been used in more than two incidents and featured in at least six murders.

The court heard that the gun was used in the murders of Patrick ‘Outlaw’ Tulloch in November 2017 in Lauriston, St Catherine; bus driver Erwin McLeggon at the Spanish Town bus park in November 2017; and Jermaine Bryan, who was killed alongside his girlfriend Cedella Waldon in an arson attack on September 9, 2018, in New Nursery, St Catherine.

The expert witness also testified that a second multiple-activity firearm, ‘Vonzay’, was found to be involved in McLeggon’s murder. However, that weapon was not seized.

The results of the analysis conducted in relation to all 10 murders led to conclusions that five multiple-activity weapons were found to have been used in the commission of the murders, the witness told the court.

However, he indicated that only two of the weapons were recovered. The court has not yet been told the model of the second recovered weapon that has been assigned the name ‘Anjanette’, nor how it was recovered.

The witness has, however, testified that it featured in the murder of Xavier Smith, otherwise called ‘Rastaman’, a deportee who was shot multiple times on Jones Avenue on January 14, 2018.

The Anjanette, according to the witness, is linked to 10 murders, including nine that are not connected to the trial. The firearm is also said to be directly linked to three other guns.

“A direct connection has been established once it has been used on the same scene,” the witness informed the court.

The other two firearms that were detected during the match analysis were assigned the names ‘Vanquisha’ and ‘Geraddo’.

Vanquisha has been directly linked to five firearms and connected to three murder scenes, including one that is not tied to the trial.

Geraddo has also been directly linked to seven firearms and connected to 10 murder scenes. However, only one of those murders is connected to the trial but no evidence has been presented on that murder.

The witness also told the court that three single-use firearms for which no matches were discovered in the database were found to have been used separately in the January 2017 murders of Clive Isaacs at Phil’s Hardware in St Catherine in the double murder-arson and the killing of Gary Heslop in July 2016 at the LOJ Plaza in Spanish Town.

Blackman 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.

The trial will resume on Thursday.