An attorney for incarcerated dancehall artist Vybz Kartel has revealed that the artist’s health is on a rapid decline.
In a recent television interview just days after habeas corpus application for the deejay’s release was denied, Isat Buchanan emphasized the urgency of Kartel’s condition.
“My last update about his health from his doctor is that his heart is worse than the last time we spoke. She had, in a medical report, made it emphatically clear that the clock is ticking on his health. And the Privy Council responded expeditiously, and in the capacity, Justice McDonald Bishop in record time, responded,” he explained.
Vybz Kartel reportedly suffers from Graves’ Disease and a heart condition.
Buchanan’s statements come after Supreme Court Judge Justice Andrea Thomas rejected the habeas corpus application which sought the release of Vybz Kartel along with Shawn ‘Shawn Storm’ Campbell, and Andre St John.
Last Thursday, Judge Thomas ruled that their present custodial status is not in breach of the constitution and that such an application cannot be used to “circumvent correct procedure just to facilitate the desire for a more expeditious outcome.”
The application followed the Privy Council’s decision in March to quash the convictions of Kartel and his co-accused for the 2011 murder of Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams. The Privy Council had directed that the case be sent back to Jamaica’s Appeal Court to determine if a retrial is necessary for Kartel and his co-accused.
Buchanan, in pushing for the release of the men, argued, among other things, that there was no order by the Privy Council for the continued detention of the men.
But Justice Thomas said she was of the view that “in the instant case, in the absence of a verdict of acquittal by the Privy Council, the charge of murder against the applicants remains in effect awaiting the decision of the Court of Appeal.”
Meanwhile, Kartel, Shawn Storm, and their co-accused will remain behind bars pending a five-day hearing scheduled to begin on June 10. This hearing will determine if there will be a retrial for the 2011 murder of Clive ‘Lizard’ Williams.
