Finally a date has been set for Vybz Kartel, Shawn Storm and their other two co-accused for their Appeal with the UK Privy Council.
As Vybz Kartel continues to serve as an influential figure in the dancehall world, and his legacy is already etched in the annals of music history he is still behind bars, and has been now incarcerated for more than 11 years.
Shawn Storm’s attorney, Bert Samuels, reported that the UK Privy Council has set some temporary dates spanning from April 16 to April 18 2024 for the case to be heard.
“The Privy Council on Monday of this week set down the appeal for Shawn Campbell, Vybz Kartel, and two other appellants for the hearing on the 16, 17th, and 18th of April 2024. The case is provisionally set for that date meaning that it is subject to change,”
Vybz Kartel along with his co-appellants Shawn ‘Storm’ Campbell, Andrew St. John, and Kahira Jones, have all been given three provisional dates for the hearing of their appeal at the Privy Council, Jamaica’s highest court of appeal located in England.
Bert Samuels, told the Jamaican press that the provisional hearing is welcomed by the appellants, who have been incarcerated for more than a decade, and they all hope the date won’t be changed.
Jamaican Dancehall superstar Vybz Kartel, real name Adidja Azim Palmer, and dancehall star Shawn Storm Campbell as well as two other co-accused, appealed their sentences to the final court, in their last bid to overturn their murder convictions.
“The date is not final or permanent and it could be changed, but we are happy to know that finally these matters will be heard and that we will be victorious” Bert Samules told the Jamaican press this past July 11.
Vybz Kartel, Shawn Storm, Kaira Jones and and Andre St John were are all sentenced to life in prison on April 3 2014 for the murder of Clive Lizard Williams, whose body was never found, during the longest trial in Jamaica.
The Jamaican Court Of Appeal upheld their conviction on April 2020 but later granted the men permission to take their appeal to the UK Privy Council.
Vybz Kartel’s lawyers and the other co-accused lawyers team made also two more applications to advance grounds for the appeal with the UK Privy Council that the Jamaican Court Of Appeal previously did not granted, as the introduction of fresh evidence that Kartel’s cellphone and some texts and voices messages that have been used to link him to Lizard’s murder have been tampered by the Jamaican police while in their custody, check the whole story here.
The latest new applications were denied by the UK Privy Council this past February 15 2023, but they still will have to hear that argument, even without admitting it as new evidence.
As already reported here, prosecutors on Vybz Kartel’s case have mainly relied on the sole eyewitness of the case, Lamar Wee Chow who appeared in the Jamaican court during the trial to give his accounts of the events that took place the evening of August 16 2011.
The witness told the court that day he was in the company of Shawn Storm and Lizard and that they all went to Kartel’s home in Havendale where they were called to respond about some missing guns, with the witness telling that Kartel, Kahira and Andre St John where already at the house.
The witness went on telling that why Kartel was asking them question about these gun other people were taking on Lizard and he was pushed in another room, but he still managed to see Lizard laying motionless on the floor and at that point he really feared for his life and left the house jumping a gate.
He went on further to say he was also chased down the street by Vybz Kartel himself that told him he had nothing to worry about. At that point Lamar Chow instead that running away went with Kartel to the hospital because the deejay had been bitten by a dog while chasing him.
Vybz Kartel’s lawyer already contested the account as inconsistent and pointed out how Chow went on also to write a letter for the court where he revealed that was the Jamaican police that put him under a lot of pressure and forced him to release that statement.
Dancehall King Vybz Kartel has been sentenced to 35 years before parole, that have been reduced to 32 years and six months following an appeal, he already spent more than 11 years behind bars, while Shawn Storm, Kahira Jones and St John will have to spend 27 years behind bars before being elegible for parole.
Beyond the controversies and the legal battles, Vybz Kartel’s artistic contributions have left an indelible mark on dancehall, paving the way for a new generation of artists to embrace their individuality and push the boundaries of the genre.
His unmatched lyrical prowess, charisma, and fearlessness have solidified his position as a dancehall icon, a legend, forever immortalizing the pioneering spirit of the genre through his music.
