Alleged Clansman gangster used to attend prayer meetings

A retired St Catherine shopkeeper, who is the neighbour of one of the alleged Clansman-One Don gangsters, yesterday said that the accused used to attend prayer meetings.

The senior citizen told the court that she knew Dylon McLean, 26, since he was a baby. Besides his regular visits to patronise her shop, she said: "I use to have prayer meetings on Friday nights and he and his cousins would come over, he is like like part of the family." A former top-tier member of the gang had testified that McLean was one of the gang's lookouts and had his own gun. The witness also told the court that McLean would sometimes guard reputed gang leader Andre 'Blackman' Bryan. However, the woman, who was called to give character evidence for McLean, described him as being very calm, quiet, unaggressive and "nice to get along with".

When McLean's lawyer Venice Brown asked her to explain why she was in disbelief that he could be a gang member, she said, "Because I did not see him in that light".

"He does not have a lot of friends and he is always over his house and I can see him from my shop always sitting under a mango tree inna the yard," she added.

The woman said that she believes that McLean is a law-abiding citizen and has never seen him with a gun or in any conflict. McLean, during his unsworn testament, said that he was innocent and denied being part of the gang, and owning or being familiar with guns.

Meanwhile, Chief Justice Bryan Sykes yesterday adjourned the trial until Monday for four defence lawyers to finalise the preparation for the witnesses and documents that they will be bringing. The lawyers are seeking to bring evidence as part of their respective cases. They have requested the admission records for their clients at the Spanish Town Police Station and Horizon Adult Remand Centre which they are hoping to use to prove that their clients were in custody when the crimes or some of the crimes were allegedly carried out by the gang.

Some of the records were brought before the court yesterday but the officer who can speak to the information was not present.