Vybz Kartel: Jamaican dancehall star wins appeal over murder conviction

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Jamaican dancehall star Vybz Kartel’s conviction for the murder of an affiliate has been quashed, after a London courtroom dominated Thursday (14 March) that the conviction was unsafe on account of makes an attempt to bribe the trial jury a decade in the past.

In April 2014, Kartel was sentenced to life in jail for the murder.

The 48-year-old musician, actual title Adidja Palmer, stays a preferred artist in Jamaica and is well-known internationally for his 2009 Major Lazer collaboration “Pon De Floor” which was closely sampled on Beyoncé’s “Run the World (Girls)”.

Kartel was first imprisoned in Jamaica in 2011 following the disappearance of his affiliate Clive “Lizard” Williams. His physique has by no means been discovered.

Prosecutors alleged Williams was crushed to loss of life at Kartel’s dwelling in August that 12 months after being lured there to reply for 2 lacking unlawful weapons.

The trial lasted 65 days, the longest in Jamaica’s historical past.

This February, Kartel and his co-defendants Shawn Campbell, Kahira Jones and Andre St John mounted their remaining potential appeal on the Privy Council in London. The Privy Council is the ultimate courtroom of appeal for Jamaica and another Commonwealth international locations.

Their attorneys argued that the trial choose on the time wrongly dealt with allegations that one juror provided 500,000 Jamaican {dollars} (round $3,200) to fellow jurors to return not responsible verdicts.

On Thursday, Judge David Lloyd-Jones agreed and mentioned that the trial choose’s determination to permit the juror in query to stay on the jury was “fatal to the safety of the convictions”.

The Privy Council has despatched the case again to the Court of Appeal in Jamaica, which can now resolve whether or not Kartel and his co-defendants ought to stand trial once more.

Kartel will stay in jail till a choice is made.

A press release from the Privy Council reads: “The Judicial Committee of the Privy Council has concluded that the appeals should be allowed and the appellants’ convictions should be quashed on the ground of juror misconduct, and that the case should be remitted to the Court of Appeal of Jamaica to decide whether to order a retrial of the appellants for the murder of the deceased.”

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During the preliminary trial, a whole bunch of Jamaicans gathered exterior courtroom chanting “free Kartel” whereas police in riot gear guarded barricaded streets exterior Kingston’s Supreme Court.

About 200 individuals briefly broke by way of barricades at one intersection shouting “free Kartel”, shortly earlier than the jury began their deliberations within the afternoon.

In 2013, one other murder case in opposition to Kartel and two different co-defendants collapsed after prosecutors failed to supply proof to assist allegations that the trio killed businessman Barrington “Bossy” Burton in 2011.