Elephant Man immigration case has been delayed once again.
Dancehall artiste Oneal Bryan, popularly known as Elephant Man, appeared in court today to answer to charges stemming from an incident last year, where it is alleged he breached Section 8 (5) of Jamaica’s Immigration Act. This act declares that “all persons arriving in Jamaica make a truthful declaration to immigration personal.” Failure to fully and truthfully disclose all aspects of your travel could see the party being fined, and this is the impending case in the matter of Elephant Man. Today, the case was postponed to a later date, and he is set to return to court on April 28.
The “Signal De Plane” deejay has been in and out of court a handful of times as a result of the 2020 incident. Urban Islandz previously reported that the dancehall entertainer allegedly falsified information on his immigration forms and failed to declare that he had visited countries that were known to have high cases of Coronavirus.
Furthermore, last year when Elephant Man arrived at the Sangster International airport in Kingston on a flight from Belgium, he declared on his immigration form that he had only been in the Netherlands. He was questioned and asked whether or not he had visited Germany, and he said no, and did not declare that on his form.
Immigration officers suspected that the dancehall veteran did not declare all the places he visited on his forms and summoned officers from the Counter-Terrorism and Organized Crime Unit (C-TOC) who served a summons. Elephant Man later apologized to the Health Minister, airport staff, and the Jamaican public for potentially exposing them to Covid early on in the pandemic.
At present, the fine for the breach is one hundred thousand dollars. There have been calls for an overhaul of certain fines in Jamaica’s law as many say the amount is not high enough. This is especially alarming since many high-ranking individuals who are more than capable of paying the fine seem to be the ones breaking the laws the most.
Elephant Man is best known for tracks “Willie Bounce,” “Log On,” and “Pon De River Pon De Bank,” “Signal De Plane, and “Nuh Linga.” The deejay joins a slew of Jamaican entertainers who have found themselves on the wrong side of the law for a bevy of reasons in recent months. Dancehall artists like Laden, Tommy Lee Sparta, Vybz Kartel, Quada, Beenie Man, and George Nooks are all dealing with legal troubles or are currently incarcerated.
Elephant Man remains hopeful that his charges will be dismissed, which would lift the cloud from over his head.
