THE supposed leader of the St Catherine-based Uchence Wilson Gang, in an ironic twist, yesterday found himself hedged in by his own testimony and the evidence of a former crony and a senior police investigator leading to him being found guilty on several counts by Chief Justice Bryan Sykes.

In the first stunner, Justice Sykes, during his continuing summation, declared Uchence “Terrence” Wilson guilty on counts 50 and 51 of the indictment — illegal possession of firearm and shooting with intent.

In making the decision, the chief justice relied heavily on the “impressive” account about an incident given by a senior detective during the trial, which also coincided with the account given by Stephenson Bennett, another of the accused in the matter.

In that incident, Bennett, after being collared by the police, told them that he was not the “big man” they were looking for, but Wilson, whom, he said, was at that time waiting on him to go to a robbery in St Mary.

Bennett, who reportedly said, “Mi want unnu ketch him,” offered to take the police to where Wilson was holed up. In fact, he went as far as to tell them not to drive their vehicle, but to drive his, as should any police vehicle or unmarked car be seen entering the area, Wilson would have been alerted.

Justice Sykes, in weighing the evidence of the officer, said, he, unlike many others who had offered evidence before the court, had not resorted to any of the classic excuses such as misplaced notes but was “methodical” and “organised” and was clearly not “a person coming to mislead the court”. He further said the cop did not seem to suffer from the “amnesia” that seems to permeate the Jamaica Constabulary Force, with officers at crucial times resorting to “I can’t recall” under questioning.

The chief justice said the police officer’s testimony coincided with what Bennett had told the police about that night, and also with what Wilson himself happened to reveal, albeit unwittingly.

According to the evidence, Wilson, upon realising that the car had not only transported Bennett but the cops, ran off while firing over his shoulder, and the police returned the gunfire. Wilson managed to escape, but then turned up at a Corporate Area hospital where he told an officer that he had been wounded while visiting a female companion in Kingston, and even supplied a false name. When the police officer probed further, however, Wilson admitted that he had been injured during a shooting incident with the police.

The alleged gang leader, yesterday clad in his signature garb — a patterned jacket in some combination of black and white with a blue shirt, white jeans, and white dress shoes — listened to the chief justice’s declaration with a knitted brow, shaking his head from side to side at one point, his hands folded across his midsection.

Justice Sykes, in his summation of evidence related to a robbery conducted by Wilson, Bennett, accused Sheldon Christian, Odeen Smith, and Lanworth Geohagen in Clarendon, said the men were guilty of robbery with aggravation and are also guilty of “being part of a criminal organisation”, which is count three of the indictment. He said while Wilson was not charged under this count on the indictment, he was captured by virtue of being party to the activities of the other men named, which was established by the evidence.

As it relates to whether the gang was a real entity based on law, Justice Sykes said: “Wilson, Bennett, Christian, Geohagen, and Smith are part of a criminal organisation and are also guilty of count 48, [facilitating serious offences by a criminal organisation].”

He said, too, that the same evidence in that count could also be used to support count three of the indictment, which says the individuals — with the exception of Wilson who is not named under that count — between 2015 and 2017 carried out criminal acts in the parishes of Clarendon, St Andrew, St Ann, St Catherine, and St Mary.

“So, in respect of count 48, a criminal organisation exists,” he stated.

In respect of count 47, for which Wilson and Bennett were charged with facilitating the commission of a serious offence in relation to the burglary and larceny of a house in Duncans, Trelawny, the chief justice said he was satisfied that the men were guilty. He said the same evidence could also be used in respect of count three of the indictment, “albeit Mr Wilson is not charged in count three”.

Wilson has, in the meantime, however, been declared “not guilty” in respect of several other counts.

The 13 remaining individuals, including Wilson, who were among close to 30 arrested by the Counter-Terrorism and Organized Crime Investigation Branch (C-TOC) in 2017, were said to be part of one of the island’s most organised and vile gangs that was responsible for robberies, extortion, rapes, murders, and the pilfering of a number of licensed firearms.

But since the beginning of the trial in March 2019 a number of the accused have walked free, with the Crown’s case against them falling apart due to insufficient evidence.

Yesterday morning, another accused, Donovan Cole, was released after being declared not guilty by Justice Sykes.

The chief justice, in his summation of the evidence against Cole, said it was clear that none of the witnesses claimed they saw Cole on any of the varied activities they spoke of, except in one instance in which a bus that was supposedly stolen by them had been handed over to him at a location in Portmore, St Catherine.

“Apart from that brief interaction, none of the witnesses could say they spoke with him. There is really nothing else here to speak of concerning Mr Cole, as far as I am concerned. There is nothing to show that Mr Cole is part of a criminal organisation, and, therefore, Mr Cole is not guilty on count three,” Justice Sykes noted.

In pointing out that he was also not guilty of providing a benefit to a criminal organisation, the chief justice further said the “information was not sufficient” to indict Cole in respect of count 40, in which he was also charged.

On Monday, former accused Sheldon Cripps was found not guilty of being part of a criminal organisation and facilitating a serious offence by a criminal organisation, and was freed. The same day, Wilson and five of the other accused were also acquitted of additional charges, but were not freed as they faced other counts in the same matter.

On Tuesday, another three of the accused were declared not guilty on several counts in the indictment.

The indictment contains over 53 counts. Eight counts of the indictment have already been disposed of in favour of the defendants.

The chief justice will continue his summation today in the Supreme Court.