Supreme Court Judge Justice Vinette Graham-Allen on Thursday sent a firm message to protesting correctional officers that “no one can hold the court at ransom” after their action resulted in the absence of 14 of 23 accused Klansman gangsters from a case management hearing.

At the same time, she ordered bench warrants for the missing defendants.

Justice Graham-Allen made the order after it was disclosed by a senior prosecutor that industrial action by correctional officers at Horizon Adult Remand Centre, where the 14 accused are housed, resulted in their absence despite the best efforts of the police at the Supreme Court to have them in court.

In adjourning the matter to July 11, a peeved Justice Graham-Allen, who had queried the reason for the delay and absences, said: “I will just state again that the rule of law must prevail in this country, so in the circumstances, the court will issue bench warrants for all the accused persons who are absent. The warrants are to be prepared and given to the DSP [deputy superintendent of police] in charge of the Supreme Court. No one, nobody, can hold the court at ransom. The rule of law prevails in this country and so I am going to issue bench warrants for the next date the case is fixed for.”

Alleged gang leader Tesha Miller, who has been indicted under the Criminal Justice (Suppression of Criminal Organisations) (Amendment) Act, commonly called the anti-gang law, for leadership of the organisation, and his 22 co-accused, who are to answer to membership charges, had been ordered at the last sitting in March to reappear at 10:00 am Thursday by Justice Graham-Allen. However, only nine of the 23 men, inclusive of Miller, appeared Thursday. Miller is currently serving 38 years at hard labour for engineering the 2008 murder of former Jamaica Urban Transit Company Chairman Douglas Chambers. He has, however, appealed that conviction and is awaiting a ruling by the Appeal Court.

On Thursday, Justice Graham-Allen, in insisting that a trial date should be fixed before July 31, noted the instructions of the head of the judiciary, Chief Justice Bryan Sykes, for the matter to be prepared and placed on the trial list.

“That is exactly what I intend to do…the rule of law will prevail in this country and I will continue to say that. I shall refer to the amount of gang cases in this small jurisdiction in our beloved country, we cannot have this; we need to get the cases tried,” Graham-Allen said in bemoaning indications by the police that there are 244 gangs operating in the country.

In the meantime, the prosecution on Thursday disclosed that “at least one other accused” is set to join the defendants now before the court at the next hearing.

On Wednesday news broke that well-known Spanish Town-based medical doctor Dr Paul Alando Robinson, who operates in the Young Street area of the town, was arrested by the police on reasonable suspicion of breaching the anti-gang legislation.

According to the police, the accused now facing trial are the sworn “enemies” of the rival Andre “Blackman” Bryan faction of the gang, 15 members of which are now serving sentences following a trial which began in 2021 and ended last year.

Bryan, who was convicted for leadership among other crimes, was sentenced to 39 and a half years behind bars when the matter concluded in October last year.

Cops say the Klansman gang, which at last count was linked to at least 800 murders dating back to 2014, is currently listed among the top five criminal organisations operating in Jamaica, with most of its activities centred in Spanish Town and surrounding areas.

Its influence, however, has spread to Clarendon, Manchester, St Ann, St James, and Kingston.

At press time Thursday, the Jamaica Observer was told by chairman of the Jamaica Federation of Correctional Officers Arlington Turner that normality had returned following quick action on the part of the Department of Correctional Services and the Ministry of National Security.