Clansman Gang Trial | Secret recordings of alleged gangsters to be admitted into evidence

Chief Justice Bryan Sykes has ruled to accept secret recordings of conversations between alleged members of the Clansman-One Don Gang.

In a decision handed down this afternoon, Sykes ruled that the recordings meet the requirements of the Evidence Amendment Act, 2015 and are admissible as evidence.

The recordings, which were captured by a former top-tier gang member using three cellular phones, are being relied on by the prosecution to corroborate the testimony of its two main witnesses and to prove that the defendants were in a gang.

Sykes noted that the evidence from the former gangster is sufficient to meet the required statutory standards as the operation carried out by the witness does not require any expertise or is there any indication that the application used to do the recordings was malfunctioning.

The prosecution this afternoon submitted that the fact that the witness was able to download the application and record the conversations and access the recordings multiple times without it crashing suggests that the phone was in good working order.

Lead attorney Lloyd McFarlane, who is representing the alleged leader of the gang Andre 'Blackman' Bryan, argued that the prosecution's submission does not satisfy the requirement of the Act.

He rejected the argument that it could be inferred that the device was working properly based on the ability to open the recordings.

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 faction of the Clansman Gang.

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