THE defence in the ongoing trial of 25 suspected members of the Tesha Miller faction of the Klansman gang on Wednesday resurrected the criminal past of Leon Burke, the owner/proprietor of a small business in Pineapple Lane, Bog Walk, St Catherine, who was allegedly murdered by the gang in 2018.

The shooting, which took place on February 24, 2018 at the bar/shop and cookshop operated by Burke, left him and another man identified as Kemar Williams dead and a third man nursing serious wounds.

Alleged faction leader Tesha Miller and his co-accused Kirk Forrester are supposedly behind those murders, according to counts nine, 10 and 11 on the 32-count indictment produced by the Crown. Count nine charges Miller and Forrester with “facilitating the commission of a serious offence by a criminal organisation” — the February 24, 2018 murder of Leon Burke — while count 10 further charges Miller and Forrester with facilitating the commission of a serious offence by a criminal organisation, the murder of Kemar Williams. Count 11 further charges them with knowingly facilitating the commission of a serious offence by a criminal organisation, the wounding with intent of (name withheld).

Wednesday, a prosecution witness (name and identity withheld) who took the stand to give identification evidence for Burke, was pressed by defence attorney Kemar Robinson, who represents Forrester about the dead man’s antecedents during cross-examination.

Robinson:“(Leon Burke) resided in the United Kingdom at some point?”

Witness: replies in the affirmative.

Robinson: “And he was deported from the United Kingdom?”

Witness: “I don’t know.“

Robinson: “Can you tell what year he returned from the United Kingdom?”

Witness: “I don’t recall the exact date but I know it was sometime before 20212.“

Robinson: ”And you do know that he was convicted for murder at some point?”

Witness: “In my earlier years, yes.”

Robinson: “And was that in Jamaica or the United Kingdom?”

When the witness replied, “In Jamaica, Sir,” Robinson then asked, “and he, in fact, served a sentence in relation to this murder at the general penitentiary?”

“I’m not sure where, Sir,” the witness replied warily.

“You never visit him?” Robinson pressed. “Sir, I was a child,” the individual replied, telling the attorney, “No, I’ve never.” Robinson then told the court he had no further questions for the witness.

The witness, who took the stand for the first time Wednesday morning had told the acting deputy director of public prosecutions leading the evidence that she along with another individual on March 7 that same year had identified Burke’s body at a St Catherine-based funeral home.

On Monday, a detective sergeant who had been the initial investigator into the double murder and wounding incident said he was on duty on the night of February 24, 2018 at the Linstead Police Station when, about 10:40 pm, he had been alerted to an incident on Bog Walk Main Road in the vicinity of Pineapple Lane.

The cop said on arriving at the location he saw a male lying on his left side inside a container, which housed a bar and cook shop, with what appeared to be blood coming from “the region of his head and face”. He said he saw what appeared to be about three spent shells beside the body.

The cop said upon entering the bar itself he saw several other spent casings before the bar counter and on top. He told the court that in going beyond the counter he encountered another male lying on his right side with what appeared to be blood coming from beneath him. The lawman said this man, who was known to him, was the owner and proprietor of the business, Burke, otherwise called “Lenky”.

He said scene of crime personnel who were called processed the scene and collected and packaged evidence while funeral home workers removed the bodies to Spanish Town Hospital.

The cop said during the course of his investigations he visited the hospital where he was directed to a cubicle in the Accident and Emergency Department where he saw a doctor tending to a male who had what appeared to be gunshot wounds to the belly, thigh and hip. The cop said he, however, refrained from taking a statement from the 49-year-old-man (name being withheld) “because of the condition he was in at the time” and made arrangements to do so at a later date.

He said the day after the shooting incident, based on information he received, he returned to the crime scene and went to the rear of the building where he discovered a black plastic bag containing the Taurus 9 mm handgun which he later examined and turned over to the Government forensic lab for analysis.

That firearm, along with the magazine and three rounds, were tendered and admitted into evidence as exhibits after they were identified by the investigating officer on Monday. The cop said he later attended the post-mortem exercises where relatives of the dead men identified their bodies. The lawman, who said he was transferred from that location in 2019, said up to the time the matter was reassigned, he had arrested no one in relation to the incident and also had no suspects.