Dancehall artiste Andrae Sutherland, popularly known as Popcaan was slapped with five charges on Thursday, January 4, related to an incident at his St. Thomas concert last month.
In a statement, the Jamaica Constabulary Force said: “Mr. Sutherland attended the Area 5 Police Headquarters where he was served with five summons, relative to his behaviour at the staging of Unruly Fest in Yallahs, St Thomas, between Friday, December 22 and Saturday, December 23, 2023.”
He was charged with the following offenses:
1. Breach of the Noise Abatement Act
2. Threat
3. Using Abusive and Calumnious Language
4. Using Indecent Language; and
5. Disorderly Conduct
He is to appear in the St Thomas Parish Court in Morant Bay on Wednesday the 10th of January to answer to these charges.
Disruptive ending to Unruly Fest
The annual Unruly Fest, which was held at the Phillips Field Sports Complex in Yallahs on December 22, had ended prematurely, with law enforcement pulling the plug minutes before 5:00 AM.
Govana, Taurus Riley, Jashii, Skillibeng, Sean Paul, Protoje, Jesse Royal, Chi Ching Ching, Najeeri, and American rapper Quavo, were among the other acts before Popcaan hit the stage to close the show.
Police said the show was originally scheduled to end at 4:00 am, and the show benefitted from a bonus hour.
A verbal dispute erupted on stage between the artiste and lawmen, with a visibly frustrated Popcan accusing authorities of treating St. Thomas events unfairly.
“Das why St Thomas cyah better because unu fight ‘gainst everything weh we do. Unu move up, mi tired a unu,” the deejay said, as he urged the bands to continue playing in between hurling expletives at the cops who came to end the event.
Popcaan, a native of St. Thomas, indicated that he may move the event to the National Stadium in the near future. He said that St Thomas will never be better if the parish continues to endure what he believes is unjust treatment from authorities.
