Jah Cure Will Remain In Custody Until October 9 As Language Interpreter Cancels At The Last Minute

An 11th hour cancellation by an language interpreter doomed Reggae singer Jah Cure to be remanded in custody when he appeared in a Netherlands court this week.

The court-hired interpreter was unable to attend a substantive hearing in the singer’s case at the last minute on June 18th.

“Yesterday (June 18th), the substantive hearing was scheduled but because the interpreter was unable to attend at the last minute, the case has been adjourned,” a representative of the Netherlands Prosecution Service, told DancehallMag.

The case has been rescheduled for October 9 at 2 p.m.

“Until then, the suspect will remain in custody,” the representative said.

The substantive hearing on June 18 had been convened to determine whether Dutch prosecutors could pursue the Reggae singer on an attempted murder charge.

Over the past few months, a Netherlands investigative judge had been hearing witnesses as Dutch prosecutors pressed their appeal against the acquittal of the Unconditional Love singer’s attempted murder charge in the initial trial.

Only hearings where there is application of judicial mind to the resolution of the dispute, are classified as ‘substantive’, in other words, a hearing at which the outcome of a matter is expected to be decided. This may be referred to as a defended hearing (family and civil), a trial (criminal and civil processes) or an appeal hearing.

Jah Cure, whose real name is Siccature Alcock, has been in pre-trial detention in Amsterdam while awaiting the handling of the prosecutors’ appeal of his 2022 conviction. Mr. Alcock was convicted to a six-year sentence in March 2022 for attempted manslaughter, but he was acquitted of the attempted murder charge.

Jah Cure’s lawyer has also appealed the attempted manslaughter conviction.

Cure was convicted after he stabbed a Dutch concert promoter known as Nicardo ‘Papa’ Blake over unpaid performance fees in October 2021.

The trial judges had ruled that Jah Cure’s actions were not a premeditated act of attempted murder, and he was acquitted of the more serious charge.