‘Zeeks didn’t get the severed head’
Residents of Matthews Lane have denied that the severed head of a Kingston man was sent to community strongman, Donald “Zeeks” Phipps, as a reminder that he was marked for death.
The head, which belonged to Matthews Lane resident Orett “Oney” Haye, had been placed on a makeshift stake and paraded downtown last Sunday. A cigarette was said to have been placed between the lifeless lips.
On Tuesday, cops said a band of thugs stormed the storage area of Brown’s Funeral Home and beheaded Haye’s body, which had been found on a handcart at the Kingston Public Hospital.
Police from the Denham Town Criminal Investigation Bureau say Haye had been shot to death.
“His body was pushed on a handcart to the Kingston Public Hospital and a group of men went into a funeral home and cut off his head,” Inspector Victor Henry of the Constabulary Communication Network told the Observer.
Fearful workers at the Brown’s Funeral Home’s North Street branch have confirmed the incident.
“Yes, it’s true,” one worker said when the Observer checked. “You want to see the body?”
Two weeks ago, dozens of police and soldiers swarmed downtown Kingston after rumours circulated that Zeeks had been given a 48-hour ultimatum to leave Matthews Lane or be killed.
There are reports that the men who are behind the issuing of the ultimatum were once part of the Matthews Lane camp, but after they fell out of grace with Phipps, they were chased out of the area.
It is widely believed that this group is responsible for the gruesome beheading as police say Haye was suspected of being involved in the murder of a relative of a former Matthews Lane gang member who has now aligned himself with men from Tivoli Gardens.
“We have information that a man who used to be very close to Zeeks, has now turned against him and wants him dead at all costs,” a senior police source told the Observer.
A nightly curfew has since been imposed north along Charles and West Streets, south along West Queen Street and Spanish Town Road, east along King Street, and west along West Street, as the police move to maintain law and order in the city.
