Vybz Kartel could be plotting his sweet revenge if he is released from prison this year. The dancehall legend and his attorneys remain confident that the local Court of Appeal will dismiss his murder case following a bombshell ruling by the UK Privy Council in March this year.
While the “Fever” deejay will have to wait until around mid-June to know his fate in the Court Of Appeal, his activities on social media indicate that he is eyeing a release from behind bars after fourteen years. In a post on Twitter/X, he gave us an idea of what his life would be like as a free man.
“I will be everywhere you look but Nowhere to be found & THAT will be my Revenge,” he wrote.
The Court of Appeal sets a 5-day hearing beginning June 10, 2024, to hash out the Vybz Kartel case after the Privy Council ruled to squash the 2014 murder conviction due to jury misconduct. However, rather than totally dismissing the case, the Privy Council judges referred the case back to the Jamaica Court Of Appeal to determine if a retrial is warranted or to dismiss the case entirely.
The Director of Public Prosecution, DPP, Paula Llewellyn, has indicated that her office will be pushing for a retrial, which she said is in the interest of justice. “We would be obliged to, given the strength of the case for the prosecution that was put up and given the authority and the case law,” the DPP said.
The Court of Appeal will hear submissions from lawyers during the 6-day hearing before a ruling is handed down.
Not surprisingly, Vybz Kartel’s lead appeal attorney, Isat Buchanan, has also expressed his confidence that the case will not go to retrial and that Kartel, real name Adidja Palmer, and his co-defendants, Kahira Jones, Shawn Campbell, and Andre St John, will be exonerated by the Appeal Court.
In the meantime, Vybz Kartel has maintained his relevance in dancehall over the past decade, with his team consistently releasing new music. As a result, if he chooses to go on tour, he will have a vast catalog of never before performed music to pull from.
