Three of the four men facing trial for the execution-style killing of four family members in Havana Heights, Clarendon, in September 2021 were on Wednesday denied bail over, among other things, concern that their release could spark reprisals for the Cherry Tree Lane massacre in August this year where the accused men are from.

The men — Deryck Azan, Dane Anderson, Clifton Wilson, and Raheem Kennedy — who are from Cherry Tree Lane, have been charged with four counts of murder in relation to the killings of 25-year-old Sherona Whyte and her sister, 32-year-old Tashana Whyte; a nephew, 19-year-old Luke Newman; and another relative, 27-year-old Michael Solomon in the early morning gun attack at their Havana Heights home on September 12, 2021.

According to prosecutors, Azan — the reputed leader of a gang for whom no bail application was made as he is already serving sentence in another matter — had ordered the group of men to go to Havana Heights in search of a rival with whom he had differences. During the search for the male, who was not at the house in question, the four were murdered. Two other men — 38-year-old Oral Richards, alias Creamy, and 24-year-old Andre Bennett, otherwise called Hamma, both of Cherry Tree Lane — who were part of the attack and have pleaded guilty to four counts of murder and one count of illegal possession of firearm are serving 20-year sentences.

According to the police, the August 2024 Cherry Tree Lane massacre was directly linked to the 2021 Havana Heights quadruple murder and several other incidents including a murder committed on April 21, 2024, and a subsequent shooting and arson on April 25 in West Park. The other incidents include a murder on April 29 on Cherry Tree Lane, a murder on May 11 along Foga Road, May Pen, as well as a murder committed on May 15 in York Town.

Supreme Court Judge Justice Leighton Pusey, in turning down the applications which were opposed by the Crown, said this was based on the strength of the evidence in the prosecution’s case and concerns for the safety of the men themselves, given the events that unfolded in Cherry Tree Lane in August this year in which eight people, including three women and a child, were killed and nine injured.

The men are expected to reappear before the court in January next year.

Azan is represented by attorney John Clarke, Kennedy by attorney Andria Whyte Walters and Wilson and Anderson by attorney Tamika Harris.

Azan was sentenced in October 2014 for shooting with intent, illegal possession of firearm and illegal possession of ammunition from an incident in which he is fired shots at a police team in Manchester in 2012.