Tweeting the <PERSON> Trial & Telling Jamaican Stories · Global Voices
The <PERSON> murder trial continues to capture the attention of Jamaican netizens. <PERSON> of Active Voice “finally made it” to the trial last week, and provided some valuable context:
Jamaican DJ <PERSON> and his four co-accused are charged with the murder of <PERSON> aka <PERSON>, an associate who apparently borrowed two guns from the DJ and was subsequently unable to return them. It is alleged that in retaliation he was murdered by the DJ and his accomplices. In an unprecedented move <PERSON> and company have been held without bail for two and a half years, while rumours have swirled that the Police had incontrovertible evidence of <PERSON>’s murder at the hands of <PERSON> and his friends. The evidence was said to be in the form of text messages, voice messages and videos found on cell phones belonging to the DJ that were taken into custody by the Police when he was arrested on 29 September 2011. There was also a series of text messages sent by <PERSON> to his girlfriend saying that he feared for his life and begging her to inform the police.
She admitted that some observers are sceptical of such evidence. On Twitter, for instance, <PERSON> suggested:
If someone preppin' to murder me the last thing I'm going to be doing is sending txt messages…maybe I'm different.
— <PERSON> (@afflictedyard) January 14, 2014
However, <PERSON> also said:
Quite a few people have made up their minds that the entertainer is guilty of the crimes he’s accused of. So much for the accused being considered innocent until proven guilty.
Which is exactly why she wanted to attend the trial “live and direct” herself. 600
She described her experience in compelling detail:
I thoroughly enjoyed being in court [last Wednesday] to witness <PERSON> (co-accused <PERSON>’s attorney) systematically pick apart Detective Sergeant <PERSON>’s testimony. <PERSON> is the former head of the Cybercrimes Unit who downloaded and presented the evidence collected from Kartel’s phones. While waiting for a legal friend to arrive to take me into Courtroom 2 where the Kartel trial was scheduled, I bucked up Supreme Court Judge <PERSON> who assured me that I needed no such escort, having a right as a member of the public to attend the trial. That may be true in theory, but in reality entry wasn’t easy.
Had I not been escorted by a legal heavyweight the four heavy set plainclothes policemen outside the courtroom who interrogated us while barring entry would have intimidated me enough to make me leave. Having finally breached the hallowed theatre of justice I was surprised at how small the courtroom was, and intimate; i found myself seated about six feet away from <PERSON> and within spitting distance of the jury. The DJ wore a shocking pink shirt and orange tie and held a matching orange handkerchief that he occasionally squeezed or twisted in his hands.
I don’t know if there were any other members of the public there, the seats were mostly taken up by plain clothes policeman nattily dressed in suits with different coloured ties and lawyers in their <PERSON> like robes.
The rest of <PERSON>'s post compiles a selection of tweets “from the account of the person tweeting on behalf of <PERSON>, followed by some of @Emilynationwide and <PERSON>’s tweets capturing some of the action”:
<PERSON> home already. One more soon fwd not guilty anyday now. 1 by 1 d whole Gaza crew a fwd home.
— <PERSON> (@iamthekartel) January 9, 2014
The case is the Crown vs <PERSON>; no 1 shud b shocked that a ruling by a judge wud favor the CROWN .But all that matters is d jury's decision
— <PERSON> (@iamthekartel) January 9, 2014
Remember dat Babylon have a lot riding on dis case dont xpect them to do the decent thing n admit there is not enuff of a case to continue
— <PERSON> (@iamthekartel) January 10, 2014
Wrong date, wrong machine, wrong terminology, improper chain of custody, no gloves, no dna, no fingerprint – n d man dem still inna jail???? 600