The veteran police investigator in charge of “the gang team” at the Counter Terrorism and Organised Crime Investigations (CTOC) Unit of the Jamaica Constabulary Force came under pressure Tuesday morning to explain why a former Klansman gang member turned Crown main witness was not cautioned before he gave his statements to the police.

The issue which has been raised several times during the ongoing trial of 33 accused members of the Klansman gang, which began in September, was again raised Tuesday by Lloyd McFarlane, attorney for alleged gang leader Andre “Blackman” Bryan.

McFarlane, in fighting form during cross examination, charged that the investigator had instructed his subordinates to collect a witness statement from the ex-gang member (witness number one) without cautioning him, fully aware that by doing so it would then become very difficult to then charge him. According to McFarlane, the police were well aware that in not cautioning the witness, none of his admissions regarding his involvement in the criminal activities by the gang could be used against him in court.

Trial judge Chief Justice Bryan Sykes, who on Tuesday asked the investigator at what point it was realised that the witness had admitted to being involved in “serious criminality”, had earlier in the trial enquired whether the police have adopted a policy of not charging such witnesses. On Tuesday, the chief Justice wanted to know “what caused him to maintain his uncharged status”.

The detective in response said he was unable to answer that question, adding that the decisions taken in the investigations were taken after advice, including legal, was sought from his superiors. 

Unlike witness number one, witness number two (also a former gang member turned witness) had been charged but those charges were challenged in court and dismissed.

The detective in the meantime dismissed assertions by McFarlane on Tuesday that without the statements given by the self-confessed former gang member, the police had “no case against” Bryan.  He told the court that the gang had been under investigation since 2015 and that Bryan along with his brother Kevaughn Green had been persons of interest. The witness in question has said he had approached the police in 2018 with information about the gang after abandoning an attempt to do so in 2017 because of fear.

Alicia Dunkley-Willis