Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter

The three men who were accused of murdering three persons in Bayshore Park, eastern Kingston, in an alleged reprisal for the killing of two men, were freed on Monday because of the unavailability of the main Crown witness.

They are 29-year-old Dwyane Shaw, 42-year-old Trevor Hunter and 38-year-old Aaron Christie, of Bayshore Park.

The case was set for trial in the Home Circuit Court but Donald Bryan, Deputy Director of Public Prosecutions, told Mr. Justice Lloyd Hibbert that the Director of Public Prosecutions took the decision not to proceed with the trial. Mr. Bryan said Monday was the third trial date and there was uncertainty as to when the main witness for the prosecution would be available.

The judge told the accused that if at any time the witness became available then the case might proceed against them.

Defence lawyers Norma Linton, Q.C., Dianne Jobson, Christopher Townsend and Robert Armstrong, who represented the men, said two of them had been in custody for more than a year.

Allegations

The allegations were that 47-year-old Ivenora Campbell and her son, 27-year-old Miguel Panton, and their friend 43-year-old Everton Brown were shot dead at Campbell's home early on the morning of April 17, 2004.

The triple murder was reported at the time to be a reprisal for the murder of Rodney Leroy Far-quharson and Dayton 'Scotchbrite' Williams, both of Bayshore Park.

The men's burnt bodies with gunshot wounds were found in an open lot on Rose Lane, near Matthews Lane, downtown Kingston, on April 15 last year.

Well-known Matthews Lane resident, 50-year-old Donald 'Zekes' Phipps, and 31-year-old farmer, Garfield Williams, of Bayshore Park, were charged with the murder of Farquharson and Williams.

Williams, who is the son of the deceased Campbell, was freed on a no-case submission while Phipps was convicted in May of the double murder. Phipps was sentenced in June to life imprisonment and ordered to serve 30 years before he becoming eligible for parole. He is appealing against his convictions and sentences.