Prisoner among four more charged with Clarendon quadruple murder
Published:Friday | November 12, 2021 | 3:54 PM
A Manchester man now serving a 42-year prison sentence is among four men charged with the home-invasion killing of four members of a Clarendon family in September.
Deryck Azan was charged yesterday with four counts of murder in connection with the quadruple killing that made national headlines.
READ: Clarendon community jolted as sisters, nephew among four killed last night
Dane Anderson, Clifton Wilson and Raheem Kennedy are the other men charged with killing Michael Solomon, 25, his common-law partner, Sherona Whyte, 25, Sherona's sister, Tashana Whyte, 33, and the Whyte's nephew, Luke Newman, 19, in the community of Havanna Heights on September 12.
Two men, Andre Bennett and Oral Richards, have already pleaded guilty to murder and illegal possession of firearm for their roles in the killings and were each ordered to serve at least 20 years in prison.
READ: Convicts in Clarendon quadruple murder get life sentences
READ: Quadruple murder was hit ordered from prison – police
Prosecutors acknowledged that Bennett and Richards were armed with guns but did not fire their weapons.
Azan was convicted in 2014 for shooting at a police team in Manchester in 2012 and sentenced to 35 years in prison for shooting with intent; 15 years for illegal possession of firearm; and 10 years for illegal possession of ammunition.
The sentence for shooting with intent was cut in half by the Court of Appeal in a decision handed down in July last year.
Azan, Anderson, Wilson and Kennedy were scheduled to appear before the Home Circuit Court today by video link after the Director of Public Prosecutions used a voluntary bill of indictment to have the case bypass the Parish Court.
However, Anderson, Wilson and Kennedy refused to appear on camera, court officials disclosed.
Azan, during his appearance, asked presiding judge, Justice Vinnette Graham-Allen, to indicate why he was before the court.
“Them say you charge with murder,” Graham-Allen responded, holding up the indictment and reading out the allegations.
The case has been adjourned until November 24.
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