Daniel McKenzie, one of the remaining 23 accused standing trial with alleged members of the Klansman gang has been freed.

McKenzie, who had insisted that he was a tiler and not a gangster, had remained before the Court on count two, which charges all the remaining accused with membership of a criminal organisation. It is the last of the 25-count indictment being examined by the trial judge Chief Justice Bryan Sykes, who has indicated that the matter will end today.

McKenzie, in his unsworn statement, said he was a tiling apprentice from the Cooreville Gardens Community in St Andrew and had never frequented any of the areas said to be the stomping ground of the gang.

He further said he had “never owned or used a gun” nor conspired to kill anyone. McKenzie also said he did not “know half of these men (he) was charged with”.

In the meantime, the accused Michael Whitely has just been declared “guilty” on the same count.

Whitely, in his unsworn statement, had disputed that he knew Witness Number Two or had visited his home where he stood guard for Andre ‘Blackman’ Bryan, leader of the gang. He had also declared that this was unlikely as the “uptown garrison” community that the witness lived in was not one that allowed outsiders to roam at will.

On Tuesday, Bryan was been found guilty of being the leader of the notorious gang.

READ: ‘Blackman’ is the Klansman boss – Andre Bryan found guilty of being gang leader

Arguing that even to pick mangoes that hung over a fence would require ringing a buzzer to get access to the property the coveted fruits hung from, he said his knowledge had been gleaned from being a member of the Jamaica 4-H clubs and visiting because his “sponsor’ lived there.

“When dem seh mi up dere so a guard fi Blackman, I don’t know up dere so. Reneto Adams di policeman him live up dere so, My Lord. Mi naw go up dere so. If yuh go up dere so, police haffi ketch dem man deh, My Lord. Is in di sponsor time I go up here,” Whitely insisted.

As to claims that he provided security for the Lauriston community, he declared, “me cannot hold off man or police, Lauriston have bout five entrance”.

“I am a chef, me have a restaurant. Me a cook from me 15 years old…I don’t in no gang, just food shop My Lord, that’s it, yuh hear My Lord,” he said then.

The trial judge this morning said he did not accept Whitely’s defence.