Vybz Kartel will have to wait to learn his fate in his final murder conviction appeal. . The appeal of the popular dancehall entertainer is expected to experience delays due to the current COVID-19 pandemic, reported his attorneys.
Kartel, who was born Adidja Palmer, and his co-accused, Shawn ‘Shawn Storm’ Campbell, Kahira Jones and Andre St John were convicted in the 2011 murder of Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams.
A three-member panel of judges of the Court of Appeal led by President Dennis Morrison informed lawyers yesterday that the appeal failed by a unanimous decision, The Gleaner reported.
“Despite the failure of the judge to follow the now well-established procedure involving sentencing, the sentences that he imposed are consistent with sentences handed down in previous cases, but the appellants are each entitled to the benefit of a deduction of the time that they spent in custody prior to sentencing,” the Court of Appeal judges stated.
Kartel’s high-powered attorneys expressed their disappointment in the judgment and vowed to head to the United Kingdom-based Privy Council where they hope to have a better outcome.
“The judgment delivered by President Morrison of the Court of Appeal which dismissed the appeal of Adidja Palmer and his co-defendants is not one that has been unexpected. We have been preparing to go to the Privy Council for several months now and we will proceed to do that,” Tavares-Finson, QC said.
The attorney who also serves as president of the Senate claimed “nobody in Jamaica believes Adidja Palmer got a fair trial”.
“We are confident that once we go to the Privy Council, we will get justice in this matter,” he said, before criticizing the courts for taking two years to deliver the judgment.
A telegraphed message from Kartel, days leading up to yesterday’s judgment, revealed that he was confident he would be freed.
“I feel very upbeat about the case. I’m 100 per cent sure I should be set free. Legally there is little to be concerned about. But put the ‘Kartel factor’ in the mix and everything gets complicated,” the controversial deejay said.
With the UK borders remaining closed in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic that has taken the lives of more than 3,000 people in that country, Valerie Neita-Robertson, QC, one of Kartel’s attorneys, believes the appeal process could extend to more than a year.
“We have to go to the Court of Appeal here for leave. So there is an intermediate stage before we get there. Sometimes it will take a year under regular circumstances – it is not a quick process – but of course the UK is under so much stress now, we don’t know when the courts will be up,” Neita Robertson said.
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