THE sentencing of Donald ‘Zeeks’ Phipps in the Kingston Home Circuit Court was yesterday rescheduled to May 16, following a request by attorney K Churchill Neita QC, for time to get character witnesses to speak on his client’s behalf.

Phipps, the reputed leader of the tough Matthews Lane community in downtown Kingston, was remanded in custody until the May 16 sentencing.

Neita told the court that time constraints placed on the defence team due to the lengthy Easter holiday weekend, following Phipps’ conviction last Wednesday, prevented them from having the witnesses ready for yesterday’s sentencing.

“I hope that counsel will have his house in order by then,” Justice Horace Marsh, the presiding judge, said after acquiescing to Neita’s request.

Phipps was convicted for the April 2005 murders of Rodney Farquharson and Dayton ‘Scotchbrite’ Williams, both of Bayshore Park in Eastern Kingston. The jury, which deliberated for just under two hours, returned the verdict that Phipps was guilty of two counts of non-capital murder.

Williams and Farquharson were last April shot and killed and their bodies burnt and dumped on an open lot at Rose Lane in downtown Kingston.

Following police investigations, Phipps and Garfield Williams were subsequently charged with the murders. Williams was, however, freed last month after the jury was instructed by Justice Marsh to find him not guilty.

Phipps, however, may be facing the death penalty at his sentencing as the law allows for a person convicted of two non-capital murders to be punished in like manner as a person convicted of capital murder.

Despite the rescheduling of the sentencing, Phipps’ antecedent report was yesterday read to the court.

According to the report, Phipps is the fourth of 12 children for his mother, Leonie Cummings, who resides in the United States, and the fourth of five children for his father, Anthony Phipps, who is now deceased.

Phipps, who has 15 children ranging from ages 5-27 years old, grew up in West Kingston with other siblings under the care of his grandmother. He was educated at All Saints Infant and St Aloyisius Primary schools.

After leaving St Aloyisius, Phipps, at age 12, emigrated to the United States where he was enrolled in the Chelsea Vocational School, spending six months there. He was then transferred to the Bransiece High School where his stay ended prematurely. He then enrolled in Fordham High School where he spent three months pursuing academic subjects.

The report said Phipps sought and obtained a part-time job as a messenger, where he worked for one year before getting a job as a clerk in a shoe shop. He worked at the shoe shop for three years, before taking a job as a clerk in a restaurant, which lasted only for a year.

Phipps, the report said, then became an entrepreneur, selling items of clothing.

He returned to Jamaica in 1989 where he opened a wholesale shop in downtown Kingston and was so engaged, according to the report, until his eventual arrest last year.

– davisv@jamaicaobserver.com