— but remains in custody
LAST Thursday, Guyanese dancehall fans were abuzz with the latest Kartel news, many thinking that the embattled entertainer was free and on the streets again. However, checking websites such as www.go-jamaica.com showed that the popular entertainer Vybz Kartel was freed in the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate’s Court of possession of ganja, but the artiste, whose real name is Adidja Palmer, remains in custody as he has not been granted bail in relation to one of two murder charges against him.
When the matter came up for trial on Thursday, Kartel’s lawyer, Christian Tavares-Finson, argued that, based on the police statement, there was no way the Crown could prove that his client was in possession of the ganja.
The police had reported that they went into a room and saw a spliff among some of Kartel’s belongings.
Resident Magistrate Maxine Ellis had queried why the entertainer was still being prosecuted when someone else had pleaded guilty to the offence.
Kartel and others were picked up in a hotel room in New Kingston last September, after the ganja spliff was found in the room.
He is charged jointly with several men in connection with the murders, and they are to return to the Home Circuit Court on June 29.