Elephant Man

DJS Oneil "Elephant Man" Bryan and Marlon "Kip Rich" Plunkett yesterday pleaded guilty and were each bound over for six months, when they appeared before the Montego Bay Petty Sessions Court to answer charges of using indecent language at last August's staging of Reggae Sumfest.

They had asked their attorney to enter the plea on their behalf last Friday as they were off the island. But the lay magistrates hearing the case refused to accept that arrangement, which was the second no-show for the entertainers, and ordered that they should be arrested.

Kip Rich

The men had previously failed to appear on November 23 of last year. On that occasion, their attorney, Oswald James told the court that his clients were victims of a robbery while overseas. During the incident, one of their colleagues was killed.

In court yesterday, both men apologised for their failure to appear last week, and charged that it was due to circumstances beyond their control. They also added that their failure to appear was in no way intended to be an act of disrespect to the court.

The lay magistrates bound them over for six months with a surety of $1,000. They also told them to refrain from using profanity during future performances, as the majority of their listeners are children.

Kip Rich and Elephant Man were among those charged with breaches of the Town and Communities Act after using profanity during their performance at Reggae Sumfest last year.

Rodney "Bounty Killer" Pryce, Michael "Alozade" Sterling and Christopher "Hawkeye" Smith, who faced similar charges for their actions at the same event, were all bound over with surety of $1,000, which is the maximum fine allowed.

In the meantime, Beenie Man, Baby Cham and Merciless, for whom summonses were prepared on January 14 in connection with the same event and charges, have still not been served.

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