Jamaican recording artiste Jah Cure will continue serving his six-year sentence for attempted manslaughter in The Netherlands, a judge ruled on Tuesday.
The ‘Longing For’ singer appeared in court on Tuesday for a pro forma hearing. He is scheduled to return to court on November 1.
“Yesterday was another pro forma court date, where the judge decides on the continuation of the incarceration. The court has decided to keep Jah Cure incarcerated,” Tuscha Essed, press officer at the Public Prosecution Office to the Court of Appeals in the Netherlands, told Loop News on Tuesday.
In March 2022, Jah Cure, 43, whose real name is Siccature Alcock, was acquitted of an attempted murder charge, but convicted of the lesser offence of attempted manslaughter on March 22 in relation to the stabbing of a promoter over unpaid money in October 2021. He was sentenced to six years in prison in The Netherlands.
Following the sentence, Dutch prosecutors appealed to the court against the acquittal of the attempted murder charge.
There is still no hearing date scheduled for a new trial, so Jah Cure could find himself with a longer prison sentence if prosecutors have their way. In the meantime, he is sitting in limbo.
“There is no (substantial) hearing date scheduled yet, hence the pro forma hearing,” Essed said.
According to Dutch law, in a pro forma hearing, while an inmate is awaiting a court date for the actual trial, a judge has to decide about the incarceration (whether to keep a suspect incarcerated or not) every 90 days, these are the pro forma hearings.
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“Once we have the entire dossier files ready (which goes through several administrative steps after the first trial), the hearing will be planned. The court of appeal looks over the case again and their ruling will overrule the previous ruling by the district court,” Essed explained.
Jah Cure is no stranger to the criminal justice system as he has had other brushes with the law. He was convicted of rape and illegal possession of a firearm in April 1999 and served eight of a 15-year sentence in prison. He was released in July 2007.
Jah Cure is known for the hit songs ‘Longing For’, ‘Love Is’, and ‘True Reflection’ (Prison Walls). His 2015 album, ‘The Cure’, which included the songs ‘That Girl’, ‘Rasta’, and ‘Life We Live’, earned him a Grammy nomination for Best Reggae Album that year.
— Claude Mills
