Vybz Kartel’s hopes for freedom have been dashed to pieces as the United Kingdom’s Privy Council has rejected his appeal.
The Privy Council is Jamaica’s highest court of appeal, and Vybz Kartel, whose real name is Adidja Palmer, had applied to the court on several grounds of facts and law that the evidence against him had been tampered with and that he did not receive a fair trial.
A notice of the ruling was released on Tuesday (February 21st) showing that the decision was taken by the Privy Council on February 15th that Kartel and his three co-defendants, Shawn ‘Storm’ Campbell, Kahira Jones, and Andre St John, were denied permission to appeal their case.
“Having considered an application for permission to appeal from the judgment of the Court of Appeal of Jamaica on April 3rd 2020 in the matter between [the Appellants] and The King [Respondent] and having considered written submissions from the Appellants and the Respondent we have agreed to report to Your Majesty as our opinion that 1) permission to appeal be refused (in the application dated November 20th 2020).”
The ruling added that the additional grounds of appeal advanced by Vybz Kartel also “be refused and also refused on the application for an extension of time and application to rely on fresh evidence.”
The ruling noted that the additional grounds application filed in 2021 “do not support the submission that a serious miscarriage of justice has occurred in this case.”
In the meantime, Jamaica’s Director of Public Prosecution, Paula Llewellyn, shared that Vybz Kartel appealed on “fresh evidence” grounds after he hired cyber experts to examine the cell phones that his team claims were tampered with.
The veteran dancehall artist is accused of being the mastermind behind a murder plot to kill his associate, promoter Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams.
Vybz Kartel and his co-defendants were found guilty on March 13, 2014, and was sentenced to 35 years to life in prison while the others faced similar sentences. An appeal court judge reduced his sentence to 32 years and 6 months in 2020 after hearing arguments about evidence tampering in the trial. However, the murder conviction still stands.
Williams’ body has never been found, but the highly publicized case involved circumstantial evidence that police used to show that Kartel had the motive to kill Williams after two illegal weapons in his possession reportedly went missing. The police also tendered evidence from Kartel’s blackberry phones showing him speaking in codes ordering the death of Williams.
Vybz Kartel nor his legal team has yet to react to the ruling.
