Tashieka Mair, Star Writer
western bureau

The Montego Bay Resident Magistrate's Court will begin to hear evidence in the case against four men implicated in the November 2006 murders of a family in Retirement, St. James, on March 13.

The accused men, Sylvan Green, Alroy Shaw, Ricardo Taylor and Rick Thorpe, were remanded in custody when they appeared before RM Winsome Henry last Wednesday.

Attorney-at-law Roy Fairclough represents Green; Trevor Ho-Lyn was retained on Shaw's behalf; Winston Douglas represents Taylor and George Duncan stands for Thorpe.

The four were arrested on November 20, 2006 after they were allegedly taken from a bus along the Rose Hall main road in St. James.

Allegations are that about 10 p.m. on November 18, three gunmen kicked open the door to a residence in Retirement as the family watched television. The men opened fire hitting seven persons.

The victims killed in the attack were 43 year-old Lyris Ellis-Johnson, her 17-year-old daughter, Kaya Wilson, son, Kirk Wilson, 19, and her stepson, 15-year-old Troy Johnson.

Her husband, who managed to chop one of the attackers on the leg, along with their two sons, aged 14 and 10, was shot and injured.