DOG BITE COULD HELP KARTEL’S CASE
The fact that he was bitten by his own dog at the house where Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams was killed could play a significant role in the decision of the three Court of Appeal judges who are hearing the Vybz Kartel murder appeal.
Kartel, who is appealing his life sentence for the 2011 murder of Lizard, was bitten by his pit bull on the day the murder was allegedly committed. And, according to Valerie Neita Robertson, her client was not in Havendale at the time Lizard was allegedly killed.
In court yesterday, Neita Robertson noted that Kartel arrived at Andrews Memorial Hospital at 7:48 p.m. She said that information challenges the veracity of cell tower information produced by police experts. Inspector Warren Williams, who heads the Police Cybercrimes Division, testified at the trial in 2014 that cell tower information showed that Kartel’s mobile phone was operating in Havendale at 7:52 p.m.
“It would mean that Mr Palmer would not be at the house when this [Williams’ death] happened,” Neita Robertson argued.
Further, she cited the testimony of the main prosecution witness that he arrived at the house at 8 p.m., and that after the events he witnessed there, he took Kartel to the hospital close to 9 p.m.
During the trial, it was said that the main prosecution witness and Shawn Storm took a taxi to Havendale where Kartel was present along with Andre St John and a girl named Candice.
The court heard that Kartel’s pit bull ‘rushed’ the Crown witness, and when Kartel intervened, he was bitten. The main prosecution witness assisted Kartel to the Andrews Memorial Hospital, where Kartel was treated. While there, Candice arrived and assisted Palmer in getting prescriptions, and they all returned to the guest house where they saw Kahira Jones, and St John.
DOMINO EFFECT
Meanwhile, Robert Fletcher, the attorney for Kahira Jones — one of the three men convicted of murder along with Kartel, said that when Justice Lennox Campbell gave the green light for “contaminated” exhibits to be included in the trial, it triggered a domino effect that was prejudicial to the entertainer and his three co-accused.
“The contamination was acknowledged, accepted and unexplained,” said Fletcher in relation to the phone messages that were used as evidence.
“Once the learned trial judge admitted the exhibits that were contaminated, there was no way he could correct it in his summation,” added Fletcher.
Kartel, whose real name is Adidja Palmer, was convicted in April 2014, along with his protégé, Shawn Storm, real name Shawn Campbell, as well as Jones and St John for killing Williams.
They were all given the mandatory life sentence with Kartel ordered to serve 35 years before he is eligible for parole. Campbell, Jones and St John were ordered to each serve 25 years before they become eligible for parole.