Beware The Ides Of March — Four Artists Set To Walk The Gauntlet Before The Courts
Beware the Ides of March. The Jamaican entertainment industry would do well to heed the centuries-old words of the bard Shakespeare, as it will literally be under siege with several of its artists leading a miserable parade before the courts, to literally ‘face the music’ this March.
Three of the four artists share the court date, March 4, on a smorgasbord of charges that range from murder, arson, illegal possession of firearm, and cocaine possession.
RYTIKAL
Dancehall deejay Rytikal is scheduled to appear in Gun Court on March 4. The 25-year-old deejay, born Ryan McFarlane, is charged with illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition stemming from a police patrol on January 28.
His attorney, Able Don-Foote is expected to make a bail application on his behalf when he returns to court. Rytikal, who is signed to Eastsyde Records, is known for songs such as King Inna War and Cookie Jar. He today released Disgrace.
“Rytikal is innocent of the charges, it is not his gun,” a source close to the EastSyde Records camp told DancehallMag. “The gun was in the car, Rytikal was doing video shoots at the time, and a whole heap of people forward inna the car during that time, so he will be pleading innocent to the charges,” the source added.
GEORGE NOOKS
The last time George Nooks appeared in court, he had his bail extended to March 4. He will return to Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court in Half-Way-Tree where his case will be mentioned for “complete disclosure”.
Nooks is being represented by Tom Tavares Finson, Donahue Martin as well as Christopher Townsend and Kaysain Kennedy of the Corporate Area-based TWP Attorneys-at-Law.
The veteran singer was arrested for an April 2019 incident and charged with possession of cocaine and attempting to pervert the course of justice. In October 2020, he spent a night in police lock-up, and his vehicle, a Mercedes-Benz GL 450 SUV, was seized. It was subsequently returned to him.
Allegations are that Nooks ingested “some substance” after being accosted by the police in Liguanea, St Andrew, in April 2019. He was taken to Kingston Public Hospital for observation and subsequently released.
This is not Nooks’s first run-in with the law on drug-related charges. He was freed of a similar charge on May 21, 2019. Nooks is known for songs such as the version of Little Roy’s Tribal War, Forty Legs Dread, and the gospel hit, Ride Out the Storm.
Since the death of his grandmother in 2001, Nooks has primarily recorded gospel material. His 2016 album Ride Out Your Storm reached number 4 on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart, and number 22 on the Gospel chart.
QUADA
The third artist who will walk the gauntlet on March 4 is Popcaan‘s top Unruly protégé, Quada.
The Celebration singer, whose real name is Shacquelle Clarke, was declared a suspect in the April 2019 mob killing of Sterling Castle resident Miguel Williams. He, accompanied by his lawyer, turned himself in to the police and was subsequently charged with murder and arson.
Police reports indicated that an angry mob forced its way into Williams’s house and beat him before placing tires around his body. They later lit the man on fire inside the building. His body was found burnt beyond recognition. The crowd was believed to be exacting vigilante justice for the murder of eight-year-old Shantae Skyers, a student of Red Hills Primary School.
Quada’s attorney, Bianca Samuels, has complained that her client has made no fewer than seven court appearances after the last hearing was stalled after the prosecution was unable to present a final statement. Samuels said that the constant delays had proved to be ‘exasperating” for her client.
The judge has marked March 4, 2021 as the final deadline for the prosecution’s disclosure.
Quada — who hails from Bull Bay in Portland — is known for songs, including Rum and Boom, Unruly Camp with Popcaan and Jafrass, Hail, and Have It featuring Popcaan and Skillibeng.
TOMMY LEE SPARTA
Dancehall entertainer Tommy Lee Sparta will join the procession on March 24 when he will return via Zoom for a date in the High Court Division of the Gun Court.
The artiste, who is facing gun and ammunition charges, was arrested on December 14, 2020, by members of the JCF’s Specialised Operations Unit.
He was apprehended after a Toyota Mark X motorcar in which he was traveling was intercepted on Holborn Road, in St Andrew. Tommy Lee — whose birth name is Leroy Russell — was searched, and a 9mm pistol containing 18 rounds of ammunition was allegedly found in his waistband.
A former member of Vybz Kartel’s Portmore “Gaza” Empire, Sparta got his musical break in 2012 and is known for songs including Spartan Soldier, Spartan Angel, Psycho, Rich Badness, and Blessings. He has had several run-ins with the law over the last six years.
In a four-month period, four Dancehall artists have been charged with possession of illegal guns. The aforementioned Tommy Lee Sparta and Rytikal are presently before the courts.
Emerging dancehall artist, Shokryme, recently pleaded guilty to illegal gun charges. hE was arrested on November 25, 2020, after he was found with a Ruger P-10 C in his waistband, by police on patrol along the Hellshire Road in Greater Portmore. The illegal gun contained a magazine with seven rounds of ammo.
The artist, whose real name is Jason Pinnock, pleaded guilty to charges of illegal possession of a firearm and ammunition on January 15. He will be sentenced soon.
The fourth is Laden who pleaded guilty last year and was sentenced to four years in prison on gun charges, after his arrest in October 2020 following a police chase.