MONTEGO BAY, St James — Once identified as the St James police division’s most wanted criminal, 26-year-old Nickeelo Lewis from Bugs Bunny in Lilliput, appeared alongside Del-Llanei Duncan before High Court Justice Judith Pusey in the St James Circuit Court on Monday.

Lewis and Duncan have been implicated in two homicides that took place in 2020 and 2022.

Lewis, who goes by the monikers Akelio and Keelo, is charged with murder and illegal possession of firearm in relation to the fatal shooting of Horatio Shakes. That attack allegedly took place in Bugs Bunny on August 18, 2020.

Lewis is also charged, alongside Duncan, with the murder of 28-year-old Chevaine Stephens and the injuring of others on January 4, 2022, at Ocean Heights in Lilliput.

The charges in that case include murder, wounding with intent and shooting with intent.

Attorneys Sherneika Jackson Butler and Albert Morgan represent Lewis, while Duncan is represented by attorney Martyn Thomas, who was not present in court on Monday.

During the sitting, the court was informed that the prosecution’s case file for Lewis, in which he is solely charged, was incomplete due to the lack of a ballistic report and forensic certificate.

In relation to the matter in which both individuals are charged, the prosecution submitted a request for special measures directions in light of Thomas’s absence.

Consequently, Justice Pusey adjourned both matters until April 29 and remanded Lewis in police custody. Duncan’s bail was extended.

According to allegations in the 2020 homicide, Stephens went into the community around 8:00 pm and was pursued by three assailants before being shot multiple times.

Investigators say the gunmen also fired on a motor vehicle with three occupants before leaving the scene. One of the passengers in the vehicle received gunshot wounds.

The injured individuals were taken to hospital where Stephens was pronounced dead. Lewis was arrested by the police during an intelligence-driven operation along Reading Main Road on May 24, 2022.