Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

DURING CLOSING arguments last Tuesday in the Donald 'Zekes' Phipps murder trial at the Supreme Court, attorney K. Churchill Neita said his client was a misrepresented man who had been wrongfully hounded, and brought down by the police.

According to Mr. Neita, Zekes was not only father to the 15 children he had sired, but to many marginalised persons in West Kingston. Life without Zekes, he stated, would be tough for his 'constituents'.

Justice Horace Marsh disagreed with Mr. Neita and sentenced the 49-year-old area leader to life imprisonment for the April 18, 2005, murders of Rodney Farqhuarson and Dayton Williams, at Rose Lane, in West Kingston.

SHOT IN THE HEAD

Police say the men, who were from Bayshore Park in east Kingston, were shot in the head and their bodies burnt.

Zekes, who was arrested in connection with the murders one month after the bodies of the men were discovered in an open lot, will not be considered for parole until he serves 30 years of his sentence.

Justice Marsh's ruling not only ended Zekes' reign, but brought the curtains down on a dynasty which has ruled the west Kingston enclave of Matthews Lane with an iron hand, for 30 years.

Zekes' older brothers, Carl and Glenford, were also big names in the area which has never hidden its allegiance to the People's National Party. Carl was murdered on Easter Sunday, 1977. Glenford, also known as 'Early Bird', was murdered along with two other men at the Marley Manor apartment complex in the early 1990s.

Deputy Superintendent Errol Hewitt, head of the Kingston West Police Division, told The Sunday Gleaner that he does not expect any trouble in west Kingston in the trial's aftermath.

"We have no reason to believe that anything will happen. Things have been quiet here for some time ... As far as security is concerned we have everything under control," said DSP Hewitt.

EXTORTION RACKET

The police believe that Zekes amassed a fortune by heading a thriving extortion racket in the business hub of downtown Kingston. Although he is now out of the picture, DSP Hewitt says it is likely to be business as usual for extortionists.

"This is not to say we'll get rid of extortion. As long as persons want to pay, we can't stop that," he said.

Several prominent business-persons in downtown Kingston have denied supporting west Kingston's pay-for-protection network.

The diminutive Zekes was thrust into the national spotlight in September 1998 when he was arrested and charged by police for attempted murder, illegal possession of a firearm and unlawful wounding.

While being interrogated at the Central Police Station near to Matthews Lane, his supporters rioted. It was not until he appeared on the balcony of the precinct and ordered his followers to return to their homes that the demon-strations ceased.

All charges against him were eventually dropped. Four persons, including two members of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, died during the three-day 'Free Zekes!' riots. Support for Zekes during his year-long murder trial was not as extravagant, a sign that maybe his influence in Matthews Lane had waned.

DSP Hewitt says even if rowdy Zekes supporters had shown up at the Supreme Court last Tuesday, they would not have been allowed to get out of hand.

"That is history (September 1988)," he said. "Things are in place now to prevent anything like that."

Zekes' legal team says they have already begun filing an appeal of the verdict.