A former gangster turned State witness yesterday told the court that Tesha Miller is the leader of the Klansman gang.

The man, who is being referred to as Witness One by the Jamaica Observer because the court instructed that all witnesses remain anonymous, made the admission in the Home Circuit Court during re-examination by the prosecutor.

Miller is currently on trial for being an accessory before and after the fact in relation to the June 27, 2008 murder of then Jamaica Urban Transit Company (JUTC) Chairman Douglas Chambers.

Chambers was shot dead at the JUTC depot in Spanish Town after he had left a meeting to smoke a cigarette outside.

According to police reports, two men armed with a high-powered rifle and a .45 calibre handgun shot Chambers repeatedly in the head.

Yesterday’s re-examination of the witness came after Miller’s attorney, Bert Samuels, had submitted to him on Monday, Tuesday, and during the first hour of yesterday’s morning session that his testimony on the stand varies from the original statement he gave to the police.

Samuels had also submitted that Witness One made up stories about knowing his client.

But Witness One, who sought to explain on numerous occasions during the trial why he said certain things in his 14-page statement that took him 13 months and four days to complete, reiterated yesterday that everything he said was the truth.

Earlier in the trial it was disclosed that Witness One, in a statement he gave to the police and which he had signed, named the leader of the Klansman gang as “Blingers”.

Yesterday, when the prosecutor asked Witness One which of his testimonies about knowing Miller was the truth, he said: “The Klansman system was under one portfolio. Tesha Miller was the overall leader. Blingers was the area leader. It could cause death, so I gave them (police) that so that they could stop ask about Mr Miller.”

The prosecutor then asked Witness One why he had told the police in his statement that he knew Andre “Blackman” Bryan — reputed leader of a breakaway faction of the Klansman gang — for one year but testified in court last week that he knew him for more than 10 years.

Witness One replied: “Affi tell dem dat. At di time dem want some information and mi never waan give it out, dat is why mi tell dem dat.”

Samuels, during cross-examination earlier this week, put forward to Witness One that Miller did not tell him that he had sent “Blackman” on a boat to the Cayman Islands following Chambers’ murder “cause the heat coming down”.

Yesterday, when the prosecutor asked Witness One what he meant by “cause the heat coming down” he replied: “Police was looking for him.”

The 29-year-old witness, who received a life sentence for murder, admitted to giving his statement in another name to escape additional charges. He also said that he did not tell the police that he shot anyone because he knew he would have been charged for it.

Samuels had also put to Witness One that he was not being truthful as he had told the police that he was nine years old when he dropped out of school, but testified that he left school at seven years old after his mother died.

“Why I told them that I left when I was nine is because I was already caught up in the Klansman system, and I knew a lot of people in the system so I couldn’t tell the police the whole truth,” the witness said.

In relation to Witness One’s admission this week that he had killed a lot of people, the prosecutor asked: “Were you embarrassed for saying you killed nuff people?”

“No,” the witness replied.

“But do you have any feeling?” the prosecutor asked.

“I am not embarrassed, but I really felt sorry for everything that I have done in the past and I’d like it to stop, so that’s why I came forth and give the statement and testify in this court. And all other young men out there that have been through what I’ve been through, I’d like them to come forward and serve… meaning they can express themselves, find a police they can trust to tell their problems and what they’ve been through,” the witness said.

“Why did you tell the police you knew Tesha Miller for a short time?” the prosecutor asked.

“If we, as a member of the Klansman gang, give certain information about the Don we can end up dead. So I try to keep that from the police. But mi mek up mi mind seh mi a go come forward and try and stop certain things if I can,” the witness replied.

When the prosecutor asked Witness One why he had not mentioned “Bruckie” — one of the men accused of killing Chambers — in his statement, the witness said: “Because Bruckie is already dead. So when I was giving the statement I thought it didn’t make sense to go further into his involvement.”

Moments after the court resumed this morning, following a five-minute break due to a lizard that was in the jury box, Witness One, during re-examination by the prosecutor, told the court that he deliberately said he was “a single youth” and that he had no family

When the prosecutor asked him to explain why he said he was a “single youth”, Witness One said: “I know I have family out there, 13 of them have died, so I try my best to stay away from them because of the statement that I have given, and I know if I was close to them, I know they can die, that is why I keep away from them and said I don’t have any family.”

The trial is expected to resume next Tuesday.