Injury to defendant stalls Clansman-One Don Gang trial

Summation at the Clansman-One Don Gang trial suffered an early adjournment this morning after one of the defendants indicated that he sustained injuries in a motor vehicle collision while being transported to court and needed medical attention. 

Chief Justice Bryan Sykes will resume his summation, which started in January, on Tuesday.

The defendant in question, Ted Prince, who has been wearing his arm in a sling for the past three weeks, complained to the judge at the start of the hearing. 

Prince, who is among the defendants in courtroom two, was observed on the monitor lying down on the bench.  

He was subsequently summoned to appear before the judge in courtroom one where he reported that the police vehicle that was taking him to court was involved in a collision. 

“An a bare pain inna mi left hand and head,” Prince said. 

Prince, who last month complained that the prison warden at Horizon Remand Centre had beaten him and broken his arm, said it felt like his "hand bruck all over again".  

The chief justice, in response, told Prince that they would not want anything to happen to him, before instructing that the police make arrangements for him to see a doctor. 

During the brief sitting, Justice Sykes was also informed about a squabble between two other defendants, which left one nursing an injury to his lip. The defendant, Donovan Williams, however, indicated that he was not in need of medical attention. 

Williams appeared in court in a grumpy mood, hissing his teeth, which caught the judge's attention. 

When asked what was the problem he said, “there was a little argument between me and one a di accused but everything okay still".  

He, however, accused one of the policemen who had intervened in the fight of dealing with him roughly. He claimed that he was pushed into the wall, causing an injury to his mouth.  

Twenty-seven defendants, including reputed gang leader Andre 'Blackman' Bryan, are being tried on an indictment of 14 counts under the Criminal Justice (Suppression of Criminal Organizations) Act and the Firearms Act.  

Five others were earlier freed, while another was killed while on bail last August.  

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