KEVIN ‘Richie Poo’ Tyndale, the man who allegedly led the Papine-based Gideon Warriors gang after the capture of its former leader Joel Andem, was yesterday found guilty in the Home Circuit Court for the August 2003 murder of Jervis Lobban in Mudd Town, St Andrew.

Tyndale’s accomplice, Brenton Fletcher, of Highlight View in St Andrew, was also found guilty of the crime yesterday in the same court. They will be sentenced on Thursday.

The case, which started last week Monday, saw the jury deliberating yesterday for two hours and 40 minutes after which they returned with a unanimous guilty verdict.

Relying primarily on a statement and evidence submitted by a witness – now in the government’s Witness Protection Programme – who was with Lobban but survived the attack, Paula Llewllyn, senior deputy director of public prosecutions, along with other assistants managed to convince the jury that both men were guilty of Lobban’s murder.

Tyndale and Fletcher were represented by attorneys C J Mitchell and Arthur Kitchen, respectively.

Tyndale is currently serving a 90-year sentence for the 2003 robbery and shooting of an August Town/St Andrew businessman. However, yesterday’s matter is guaranteed not to be his last as police say Tyndale is a suspect in several other major crimes, including murder and robbery.

According to the police, and evidence led in the closed court proceedings, while the businessman lay wounded, Tyndale stood over him and shot him in the head. The businessman survived, however and was able to identify Tyndale as one of his attackers. A bullet remains lodged in the businessman’s head.

Tyndale was captured on February 12, 2005 during a joint police/military operation in the rustic town of John’s Hall, St James, and is alleged to have wet his pants and pleaded for his life when caught.

The Andem gang rose to national prominence after a police raid at the gang’s camp at Rawly Hill Gully in early 2002 produced video recordings of Andem and his men, armed with high-powered rifles, hosting a Christmas treat for children in the community. Gang members had been linked by the police to several robberies, rapes, extortion and murders in the Papine/August town areas.

After vigorous action against the gang members since the capture of Tyndale and Andem, during which many former members were captured and killed, Operation Kingfish, the police task force formed in 2004 to target drug barons, gangsters and crime bosses, declared last December that the gang has been completely dismantled, and has since been focussing on dismantling other gangs in the country.