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Barbara Gayle, Staff Reporter

FORMER MATTHEWS Lane strongman, 52-year-old Donald 'Zekes' Phipps, has lost his legal battle in the Court of Appeal to have his double-murder convictions and sentences set aside.

The Court of Appeal dismissed his appeal yesterday and ordered that his sentences run from August 30, 2006.

Phipps was convicted in the Home Circuit Court in April 2006 of the murder of Leroy Rodney Farquharson and Dayton Williams, both of Bayshore Park, east Kingston.

Supreme Court Judge Horace Marsh sentenced him on May 30, 2006, to life imprisonment on each count. In addition, he was ordered to serve 30 years before he could be eligible for parole.

Prosecutors Jeremy Taylor and Vaughn Smith argued on appeal that there were no breaches at the trial and the convictions should be upheld.

Evidence was given at the trial that two cellular phones, one belonging to Phipps and the other to one of the deceased men, were used to make calls at the location where the crimes had been committed.

Phipps, who was represented by Frank Phipps, QC, and Kathryn Phipps, contended that his trial was unfair and amounted to an abuse of the process of the court.

Burnt bodies

The burnt bodies, with gunshot wounds, of Farquharson and Williams were found in an open lot on Rose Lane, downtown Kingston, on April 15, 2005.

Phipps filed several appeals contending that the judge had admitted hearsay evidence at his trial. He claimed further that the judge failed to analyse the evidence of the witnesses who gave testimony in relation to voice identification, and also failed to point out the weaknesses in their evidence.

The Court of Appeal, comprising its president, Justice Seymour Panton, Justice Karl Harrison and Justice Dennis Morrison found that the verdict of the jury was fully justified on the evidence in the case.