Jah Cure Found Guilty Of Attempted Murder

Reggae singer Jah Cure will have to spend even more time behind prison walls after Dutch prosecutors successfully overturned his earlier manslaughter conviction and secured a harsher ruling for attempted murder.

The Love Is artist, born Siccature Alcock, was originally convicted in March 2022 of attempted manslaughter and sentenced to six years in prison for stabbing concert promoter Nicardo ‘Papa’ Blake during a dispute over unpaid fees in Amsterdam in October 2021. At that trial, he was acquitted of attempted murder.

However, prosecutors subsequently appealed, arguing that the attack was premeditated.

On Thursday, October 30, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal agreed, finding Jah Cure guilty of attempted murder and sentencing him to eight years and four months in prison.

A representative of the Netherlands Prosecution Service told DancehallMag that the Supreme Court issued the ruling after almost seven months of hearing arguments from both sides.

“The court of appeal, unlike the district court, finds the defendant guilty of attempted murder. The defendant stabbed the victim in the abdomen with a knife, perforating, among other things, the anterior and posterior walls of his stomach,” the Court of Appeals ruling said.

According to the ruling, the singer lay in wait for Blake on Dam Square and stabbed him in the stomach with a knife, perforating both stomach walls. Voice messages Jah Cure sent before the attack, saying he had picked up a knife and planned to stab the promoter, were key in proving intent, the court noted.

The court also dismissed Jah Cure’s claims of “self-defence”.

“The court rejects the plea of ​​(putative) self-defense (excessive), as the factual basis for that plea has not been made plausible. The court sentences the defendant (after reducing the sentence on the grounds that the sentence was excessive) to a prison term of eight years and four months,” the ruling concluded.

The ruling spoke to the savagery of the act which, and the court noted with particular consideration that the incident occurred in broad daylight at a busy tourist location.

“By this act, the suspect seriously endangered the victim’s life and grossly violated his physical integrity. The fact that the injury was not fatal is fortunate, but not attributable to the suspect,” the ruling said.

The court pointed to the nature of the stabbing that eroded public trust in their collective security and safety, as it took place in the “heart of Amsterdam”.

“Besides the physical and psychological consequences the victim suffers from this act, such a crime also confirms and exacerbates the prevailing feelings of fear and insecurity in society, due to the apparent ease with which stabbing weapons are available and the frivolousness with which they are used. The court takes into account in particular that the incident took place in broad daylight on Dam Square, a busy tourist spot in the heart of Amsterdam,” the ruling said.

NO REMORSE, JAH CURE PORTRAYED HIMSELF AS ‘VICTIM’

Following the court’s previous verdict, new information surfaced that the suspect sent to a friend. In these voice messages, he announced that he would meet the victim at Dam Square and that he had picked up a knife. He also indicated in the messages that he would wait for the victim so he could stab him. The court therefore concluded that the suspect acted with premeditation.

“Given the seriousness of the offense, the court finds that no other punishment than a long prison sentence is appropriate,” the ruling said soberly.

The court also considers against the defendant that he failed to take responsibility for his actions. At the appeal hearing, he portrayed himself primarily as a victim, the ruling noted.

“After weighing all the factors, the court is of the opinion that in principle a prison sentence of 9 years is appropriate and necessary,” the ruling said.

Finally, the court takes into account the fact that the reasonable time for trial, as referred to in Article 6 of the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR), has been exceeded on appeal.

The appeal was filed on April 5, 2022, and the court delivered judgment on October 30, 2025, thus exceeding the reasonable time of 16 months by almost 7 months. Given the appeal exceeding the reasonable time limit, the court reduced the prison sentence to 8 years and 4 months.

In 2023, Cure had apologized to his fans for the “situation” he found himself in.

The singer first came to prominence in 2005 while behind bars after the release of his hit songs Longing For and Love Is. The songs were recorded illegally while he served eight years of a 15-year sentence in prison in Jamaica for illegal possession of a firearm, rape, and robbery with aggravation. Another hit song, True Reflection (Behind These Prison Walls) (2007), was also recorded in prison but was produced through the prison’s “Rehabilitation Through Music” program.

He was released from prison in July 2007.

His 2015 album The Cure topped the Billboard Reggae Albums chart and copped a nomination for the Grammy Award’s Best Reggae Album in 2016. It included the songs That Girl, Rasta and Life We Live. Cure is also known for the hit songs Never Find, the John Legend cover All Of Me, That Girl, Wake Up, and What Will It Take.