Vybz Kartel is not getting baptized in prison.
The Attorney-at-law for the entertainer, Isat Buchanan, says that the current rumors that he is getting baptized as he allegedly renounces a life of crime and violence is damaging to him as he awaits the outcome of his appeal.
Vybz Kartel is presently incarcerated for the murder of his associate Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams after being convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment with the possibility of parole after 35 years.
He has appealed his sentence on a number of technical and legal grounds and is currently awaiting the verdict by the Privy Council in England- Jamaica’s highest court of appeal.
The rumors started on Monday that the “Fever” artiste was turning to Jesus and getting baptized, and news reports quoted spiritual leaders giving their approval of The Teacha’s desire. The artiste was alleged to have outlined these plans to fans in an open letter purportedly written by Vybz Kartel, where he shared the sentiment that he felt empty and was finally turning to God, among other things.
However, his attorney, Isat Buchanan, is rubbishing those reports and has confirmed that the deejay is angry at the rumors.
Speaking to the Jamaica Star, Buchanan said the artiste maintains his innocence of the charges.
“He emphatically denies that he was either baptised or contemplated it and he is certainly not desperate and is offended that the church and others would say that they welcomed him doing that because that is an attack on his position that he is innocent and does not need to repent for anything,” Buchanan related.
“And so the fake news is offensive and is an attempt to certainly colour any attempts in the minds of anybody reading in the international space that somehow Christianity is offered as a tool of rehabilitation to people in prison when they don’t even have proper running water and facilities, much less to baptise anybody in holy water,” he added.
Vybz Kartel was sentenced along with his protégé Shawn Campbell, Andre St John, and Kahira Jones. His three co-accused were ordered to serve 25 years each before being eligible for parole.
The four men have since appealed their convictions but so far have been unsuccessful at the Jamaican Court of Appeal.
They later appealed to the Privy Council following leave being granted from the Court of Appeal.
Buchanan, meanwhile, gave an update on Kartel’s case. He says that his client remains hopeful and expects to be successful in the appeal.
“It just appears that somebody wants to make fun of somebody in an unfortunate situation,” the lawyer added while rebuking the writer of the story for being irresponsible.
This isn’t the first time that the artiste has alleged to have made those statements. In 2017, another letter had surfaced purportedly written by the deejay and alleging that he planned to get baptized. It was dismissed as a hoax by his then Attorney-at-law.
