Breaking News: Vybz Kartel Appeal Case Opens …

The long awaited appeal case on the convictions of Vybz Kartel opened today April 4, 2018 in the Court Of Appeal, down town Kingston, Ja. W.I.  in the Supreme Court.

Contaminated evidence and subsequent convictions of Vybz Kartel for his alleged role in the murder and disappearance of “Lizard.” was one of the grounds stated for the Appeal.  The defense team led by senior defense attorney & government Senate President Tom Tavares-Finson QC, is calling on the authorities to free “The World Boss” from prison for the 2014 murder convictions of Vybz Kartel.  “The trial judge erred,” asserted the defense team is another ground.  They are appealing on twelve (12) grounds, inclusive of the two stated above.

Prosecution

The prosecution will respond to the points raised later in court as part of the appeal process.

Commentary

We sit along with Kartel’s fans, on the edge of our seats as
we watch and await the outcome of this long overdue appeal.

Tom Tavares-Finson did publicly complain about the delay and said the defense had difficulty getting the transcripts. Vision reported that a complaint to this effect was lodged with then Chief Justice Zalia McCalla (Mrs.), now retired.

Delay

There has been a protracted delay due to the failure of the court officials to prepare the transcripts. Our sources advise  that the system is paper based and so retrieving data from same was not easy.

Canada

There have been proposals to put in an Electronic system to replace hand written notes.  In Canada they do produce transcripts in hours and not days.

Vision’s SIC saw this upfront on his visits to Courts there.

Hopeton O’Connor-Dennie is Senior International Correspondent & Photojournalist for Vision Newspaper Canada.