Another accused Uchence Wilson gang member freed
Published:Friday | July 5, 2019 | 12:11 AMNickoy Wilson/Gleaner Writer
Family members of Judith Johnson, one of three women accused of being a member of the Uchence Wilson gang, breathed a sigh of relief yesterday after presiding judge Chief Justice Bryan Sykes found her not guilty of being a member of a criminal organisation.
Speaking with The Gleaner after the verdict was handed down, Johnson’s older sister, Millicent Johnson, said she was elated.
“I am overwhelmed!” the elder Johnson said. “The whole family was distraught because we know she wasn’t guilty from the beginning, so we were very sad about her being here for so long, almost a year and six months.”
Attorney-at-law Christopher Townsend, who, along with his daughter Anita Townsend, represented Johnson, expressed similar sentiments.
“Our client was discharged very early in the day, certainly before the others. I am elated. ... We’ve fought very hard for this result and we are very, very satisfied. The family is quite elated; they are happy.
“We had been professing her innocence from the beginning of this matter. We were concerned that she was not granted bail. She has spent a year in custody only for it to be tossed out immediately. We had maintained that the prosecution had absolutely no case, and it has been borne out and justice has been served,” Townsend told The Gleaner.
Johnson is the third person to be freed in the case following Monday’s release of Shadday Beckford and Junior Rose.
Uchence Wilson and his remaining 20 alleged cronies are on trial for various breaches of the Criminal Justice (Suppression of Criminal Organisations) Act 2014, commonly known as the anti-gang legislation, for crimes allegedly committed between 2015 and 2017.
They are also being tried for breaches of the Firearms Act.