Tesha Miller ordered killing of JUTC chairman, witness says

A SELF-PROCLAIMED former gangster yesterday testified that Tesha Miller ordered the hit on then Jamaica Urban Transit Company Chairman Douglas Chambers 11 years ago and that he was standing across from the bus depot in Spanish Town when the murder happened.

The witness, who said he used to collect extortion money from taxi operators and businesses on behalf of the Spanish Town-based Clansman Gang, testified that he and other men were instructed by accused Tesha Miller to go there to create a diversion on the evening of the killing.

He cannot be named because of a court order.

The St Catherine native, who has been incarcerated at a maximum-security prison for the last two years on a murder conviction, told the court that Miller instructed a man identified as ‘Blackman’ to carry out Chambers’ killing.

Miller is being tried for accessory before and after the fact to Chambers’ murder at the Home Circuit Court in downtown Kingston.

Earlier in the proceedings, a sevenmember jury was empanelled following a polling exercise that sought to ascertain whether potential jurors held any prejudices against Miller.

Last week, attorney-at-law Bert Samuels, who is representing the accused, said this became necessary because of adverse publicity during the preliminary hearings.

In 2016, Andre Bryan, who was charged with Douglas’ murder, was freed.

It was alleged that on the afternoon of August 27, 2008, Chambers was at the JUTC depot when someone called him to the gate.

It was reported that while he was at the gate, Bryan and three other men shot him dead.

Bryan was arrested and later pointed out during an identification parade before he was charged.