More claims of innocence from gang accused
Published:Friday | June 24, 2022 | 12:13 AM
As the accused members of the Clansman-One Don Gang continue to disassociate themselves from criminal antecedents, another described himself Thursday as just an innocent homebody who does not even know what a gun looks like.
The defendant, Dylon McLean, was identified by a former top-tier member as one of the gang’s scouts and bodyguard for reputed gang leader Andre ‘Blackman’ Bryan.
The prosecution witness, who had also claimed to be one of Bryan’s drivers, had told the court that he had seen McLean removing an Intratech submachine gun from his roof and also saw him with a firearm in the Shelter Rock community in Spanish Town, St Catherine.
But the 26-year-old warehouse attendant, while giving an unsworn statement Thursday, said the witness was not being truthful. He declared that he was innocent of all charges.
“This man even come telling lies that I have a gun in my roof and I don’t have a board top, sir. All of my house a concrete.
“This man even say I am a lookout for the gang and bodyguard for a man which, sir, sometimes if I am at home, I would be on my wall taking Wi-Fi and a lady across the shop would always see mi all the time,” he said.
While insisting that he had no knowledge about the witness’ claims, “I never own a gun yet or fire a gun yet, and this man say mi have an Intratech submachine gun. I don’t even know how gun look, sir,” McLean said, before laughing briefly.
Defendant Ted Prince, in his unsworn statement, told the court that he was just a shoemaker and that he knew nothing about the gang.
“When mi nah build shoes, mi a work pon construction site. Mi nuh know nothing ‘bout this witness or nothing ‘bout nuh shooting nor suspicion of no shooting.
“Mi is a hard-working man,” he said.
Prince sought to cast doubt on the witness’s integrity, denying a claim that he had once been shot. But the defendant insisted that he had never been shot since birth.
Prince also denied the witness’s report that he had shot and killed a man at a hardware store in Spanish Town, St Catherine, and that he had followed the gang to Fisheries in the parish where a couple was murdered and their house set ablaze.
“I don’t know this man from nowhere for him to be telling all these lies on me,” Prince said.
The two men were the last of the 26 defendants who have given unsworn and sworn statements in their respective cases.
Two other defendants have opted to remain silent.
However, the defence’s case is not yet closed, as about four lawyers are awaiting the custody book from the Spanish Town Police Station and the prisoner’s admission book from Horizon Adult Remand Centre. The documents have been subpoenaed.
The trial has been adjourned until Monday.