A business operator on Wednesday described in lurid detail how he was rear-ended then robbed of his motor vehicle by gun-toting men and forced to take refuge in bushes in Spanish Town, in September of 2022, a crime allegedly carried out by Klansman-linked gangsters.

Taking the stand in the ongoing trial of 25 accused men said to be linked to the Tesha Miller-led faction of the St Catherine-based criminal organisation, the man said he was driving the vehicle with his female companion and their two children aboard when he felt the impact which led to the terrifying encounter.

According to the businessman-turned-complainant, the family was heading home after the workday ended sometime after 8:50 pm on September 10, 2022 and had utilised a side lane to access the Spanish Town Bypass when things went awry.

“Ah feel a vehicle lick in di bus back,” he told the court.

Explaining that he decided not to stop at the exact moment he felt the impact because he was uncomfortable on that section of the roadway, he said when he finally stopped he had a clear view of the bypass and could see that the heavily tinted vehicle which had hit his vehicle was still behind him, and had also stopped.

He said he exited the vehicle to examine the damage, and gestured to the driver of the other vehicle, though its heavy tint prevented him from seeing the occupants. He said four armed men alighted from the vehicle, and told him not to move. Terrified, he ran into the bushes, and from his hiding place, watched two of the men assault his family with their guns, and ordered the family to jump out of the vehicle.

He said he watched as his family ran into the bushes, after which two of the men re-entered their vehicle, while the other two entered his bus, which was packed with merchandise, and drove off.

He said he frantically sought help from passing motorists, and a good Samaritan stopped to help, and the two men chased the vehicles. Their chase ended at a Zone of Special Operations checkpoint where members of the security forces helped the businessman to continue the chase.

The man, who said he had, up to that point, no idea where his family was, said he met up with the family again at the Spanish Town Police Station where they were taken after being rescued by other cops.

In identifying exhibit photographs of the vehicle, the man said that night he and his family were forced to “sleep out” as the robbers had taken the vehicle with their house keys inside.

The accused, Bjourn Thomas and Ryan Harrison, are standing trial in the Home Circuit Court on the count which charges them with “facilitating the commission of a serious offence by a criminal organisation – robbery with aggravation” of the businessman (name withheld).

The witness was bound over to return on Thursday.

The business operator’s evidence was preceded by that of a scenes of crime officer who testified that he was the one to process the vehicle after it was recovered on September 12, 2022 and impounded at the Spanish Town Police Station. He said in processing the vehicle he had been unable to lift any prints from it.