Kendis Flowers’ Alleged Killer is Acquitted of Murder Charge
Kevin Bodden
Less than a year after the murder of Ghost Town boss, Kendis Flowers, the accused gunman walked free this afternoon from the courtroom of Senior Magistrate Tricia-Pitts Anderson. The notorious Kevin Bodden was charged months after the murder that caused tensions to rise in the Mayflower area. Five charges were withdrawn at the instructions of the office of the D.P.P. for murder, attempted murder, use deadly means of harm and wounding upon Maleek Pitts. But the family of Flowers held firm to the belief from the onset that Bodden was merely the fall guy and that in fact the police is responsible for the murder last March 2018. The Flowers’ family says they are not surprised at the outcome today. News Five’s Isani Cayetano reports.
Isani Cayetano, Reporting
Lurid details of the murder of reputed Ghost Town boss Kendis Flowers in March of last year, remained in the headlines for several weeks. The execution of the twenty-six-year-old Mayflower Street resident set off a series of violent events in its wake, most notably an altercation following his funeral which resulted in sheer bedlam in that south side neighborhood. In the weeks after the predawn attack during which Flowers was gunned down on Mopan Street, police arrested and charged twenty-five-year-old Kevin Bodden. Bodden was arraigned despite the family’s staunch belief that their loved one was killed at the hands of GSU personnel. Tonight, the accused killer has walked away from that indictment. Flowers’ grandmother, Sandra Uter, says that they are not surprised by the outcome of case.
Sandra Uter
Sandra Uter, Grandmother of Deceased
“Well from day one, I know Kevin Bodden mi wahn walk. There’s no evidence showing that he did it. The evidence weh we wahn sih, because from weh we hear, but di people dehn fraid fi come forward, is that it’s the policemen that did it to Kendis, that killed Kendis on a whole.”
It’s a firm position that has been held by the family since learning of his death on the morning of March 17th, 2018. They maintain that Kendis was killed by a member of the Gang Suppression Unit and that a firearm was simply placed in his hand afterwards to make it seem as though he had drawn the weapon on his presumed attacker. During his funeral several days later, mourners were seen firing rounds into the air as the procession made its way in front of his stomping grounds on Vernon Street. That show of respect for the slain leader did not go over well with law enforcement who stormed the vicinity immediately following Flowers’ interment.
Karl Wellington
Karl Wellington, Stepfather of Deceased [File: March 26th, 2018]
“The GSU came in, we were mourning, they wanted to disrupt our mourning, they wanted to take somebody away and the neighborhood stood up for that young man because it was uncalled for. So all we were doing is just taking up for a member of the community. We weren’t inciting any violence. Them GSU could have gotten killed right inside this yard, yeah. They could have gotten killed right in this yard. None of the GSU got hurt or anything, you understand. All we were doing was protecting our fellow man from the neighborhood.”
Notwithstanding that unfortunate incident, police closed in on Kevin Bodden as the suspected triggerman. Somehow, he managed to escape from custody and eluded capture for several weeks. His acquittal today confirms Uter’s theory that he was only used as the fall guy.
Kendis Flowers
Sandra Uter
“Kevin Bodden was only used as a scapegoat, but fu mek we quell affa dehn back dis da weh dehn tek di fall guy. Dehn know ih mi wahn be acquitted, but as I seh, justice deh fi come.”
Isani Cayetano
“Now Ms. Sandra, the murder of your grandson was a very sensational incident. I mean a lot of things happened afterwards, including the GSU and other members of the police department running up in your property immediately after the funeral and now it seems as though perhaps you may not have gotten not even the slightest piece of justice that the family would have wanted.”
Sandra Uter
“That’s exactly so. That’s exactly so, but they thought that we were going to be intimidated by them. We are not. Dehn could do whatever dehn wahn do you know, but we know in our hearts who killed Kendis.”
And his killer remains on the loose tonight, despite the family’s ostensible knowledge of who took their loved one’s life.
Sandra Uter
“I am not afraid to say, the Commissioner of Police now stated that we wahn get justice but I don’t see any justice because they are covering up for the police department.”
Reporting for News Five, I am Isani Cayetano.
Bodden, who ash beat the mrude4r charge more than twice now, still has one more charge before the courts for damage to property. He maintains he is not guilty of that charge for causing damages to a portion of the wall inside the Queen Street Police Station which occurred on September eighth, 2018. He is due back in court on March nineteenth, 2019.
