Updated | Three of four implicated in massive gun find freed
Published:Saturday | June 22, 2024 | 12:10 AMTanesha Mundle/Staff Reporter
Three of four persons including an alleged gangster who were implicated in a massive gun find in a warehouse at the wharf in Kingston in March 2022 were yesterday freed of gun charges.
The trio were found not guilty after their lawyers made successful no-case submissions in which they argued that the prosecution did not provide any evidence to support the charges against their clients in the Gun Court.
The alleged gangster Godfrey Martin, otherwise called 'Rev', a St Elizabeth businessman, also said to be a top-tier member of the New York-based 90's Gang, was acquitted of illegal importation of firearm, illegal importation of ammunition, conspiracy to import firearm and conspiracy to import ammunition.
Sherilyn McLean, the girlfriend of the 51-year-old businessman, along with American 32-year-old Fitzroy Johnson, of Atlanta, Georgia were also acquitted on similar charges.
However, the court ruled that the fourth accused Jermaine Baker, a 36-year-old chef of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has a case to answer.
A third US national, 42-year-old Dervan Brown, a construction worker of Bronx, New York, was also implicated in the matter but was shot and killed last November.
The four were charged following the illegal gun find on March 4, 2022. Three rifles, 18 handguns, and 2,216 rounds of ammunition were discovered after customs officers detected a suspicious package and summoned the Contraband Enforcement Team.
Rev was arrested on August 7 last year at a popular party in St Ann, while McLean was arrested and charged on September 13.
Johnson, who investigators say had entered into an arrangement and had allegedly paid for five of the illegal guns, was arrested at the Norman Manley International Airport on his arrival in the island on November 3 last year.
Attorneys-at-law Jacquline Samuels-Brown and Everton Dewar represented Martin, Kemar Robinson represented Johnson and Vincent Wellesley represented McLean. Attorney-at-law Donahue Martin appeared for Baker.