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‘Big John’ remanded for 2021 murder
…Sentenced to 6 years in jail for illegal firearm possession
Kaieteur News – Forty-year-old John Kennedy called ‘Big John’ was on Monday remanded to prison for the murder of 21-year-old Jaleel Leow of Dennis Street, Campbellville, Georgetown, who was gunned down in 2021.
Kennedy was also sentenced to six years imprisonment for being in possession of an illegal firearm and ammunition.
The Guyana Police Force (GPF) had issued a wanted bulletin for Kennedy of Lot 751, B- Field Sophia, Georgetown. However, it was only last Sunday, he was arrested for being in possession of an illegal gun at New Amsterdam, Berbice, Region Six. Interestingly, it was only while in custody that the police realized Kennedy was wanted for murder.
Dead: Jaleel Leow
Kennedy appeared at the Sparendaam Magistrates’ Court before Magistrate Rushell Liverpool on Monday where he was not required to plead to the indictable charge which stated on August 3, 2021, at `B’ Field, Sophia, Georgetown, he murdered Leow.
The accused was remanded to prison for the murder and the matter was adjourned to July 13, 2023.
Leow, a mechanic, was gunned down at a woman’s business place on August 3, 2021. He was reportedly one of the murder witnesses in the 2020 killing of Kevin Campbell.
Kaieteur News had reported on August 4, 2021 that Leow, Campbell’s brother, Brandon Smith and a Sophia businesswoman were hanging out in front of her shop on the afternoon of August 3, 2021 when two suspects approached them on bicycles.
The suspects dismounted their bikes and one of them armed with a cutlass asked the businesswoman, “Is problem you want?” She had reportedly responded in the negative together with Leow and Smith before walking into her yard.
Leow, on the other hand, was not afraid to stand up to the alleged attackers as he retorted, “Y’all could get problems if y’all want.”
The other suspect, according to police, then whipped out a handgun while approaching Leow from behind and fired several rounds, two of which impacted his back. However, not satisfied with the two discharged rounds, the gunman stood over him and shot him two more times to the chest.
Remanded: John Kennedy called ‘Big John’
Investigators were told that Leow somehow managed to get up and escaped but had collapsed at the back of the businesswoman’s yard and died.
The gunman then turned his attention to Smith and fired a shot at him too but the bullet only managed to graze his right arm before he had an opportunity to escape.
Leow’s killers then rode away on their bicycles, but not before turning to the businesswoman and saying, “We gon kill all y’all one by one. You gon be de las’ one we kill.” Following Leow’s death, police had identified three possible suspects by their aliases, ‘Big John,’ ‘Double Clip’ and ‘Brainer’ and issued wanted bulletins for them.
Almost two years after Leow was killed and the suspects were named; gunmen in a tinted car attempted to assassinate the businesswoman and her husband. The attempted killing of the woman took place in March this year.
The gunmen, according to reports, had stopped in front of the woman’s grocery shop at ‘B’ Field Sophia in a tinted car while she and her husband were sitting outside chatting with a friend.
Her husband recalled that three masked men armed with handguns came out of the car and walked up to his wife and began shooting before re-entering the car and escaping.
A police report had detailed that the husband received two gunshot injuries to his upper back, while his wife received gunshot injuries to her right-side face, two to her right arm and one to her left elbow.
Meanwhile, Kennedy appeared via Zoom from the Sparendaam Magistrates’ Court to the No. 51 Magistrates’ Court where he pleaded guilty to illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition.
Kennedy admitted that on Sunday in the vicinity of Main and Church Streets, New Amsterdam, he had in his possession a 9MM pistol loaded with 15 live bullets. He was sentenced to a total of six years for both offences.
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