KINGSTON, Jamaica — Dancehall artiste Mavado is threatening to take legal action against those involved in what he described as “injustice” against his son, Dantay Brooks, and Andre Hines, following the recent overturning of their convictions for a 2018 shooting murder.

The two murder convictions and life sentences were quashed by the Appeal Court this week after the court ruled that their convictions had been rendered unsafe, leading to a substantial miscarriage of justice.

READ: Mavado’s son and friend freed

The Appeal Court panel expressed the view that the trial judge’s failure to properly caution himself about the risks associated with identification evidence, along with his inadequate handling of that evidence and the credibility of the prosecution’s sole eyewitness, led to the applicants being denied the legal safeguards designed to prevent the serious danger of convictions based on unreliable identification testimony.

Mavado has since broken his silence following the ruling, stating that while he is elated that his son has been freed, fire is raging within him at the injustice that took place.

“It’s taken me some time to process all that has taken place, but I am ready to speak. To God be the glory — He comes first in everything we do. I am naturally elated, relieved and full of joy that my son Dantay has been freed from the state-imposed hell he has endured for seven years of his young life. But at the same time, there is a fire raging within me at the injustice — or as the appeal judges put it, substantial miscarriage of justice — that has taken place,” Mavado said in a post on Instagram.

“A trial without a jury, decided by a lone judge who chose not to take into account the number of times the single witness changed his statements, admitted to lying to the police, and fabricated his account of events. The prosecution could not properly contest the appeal and did not request a retrial, admitting along the way that they did not follow basic legal protocol. They sensationalised the story with outrageous claims, which the post-mortem also proved to be lies,” he continued, questioning how such a blunder could have occurred.

The artiste said he will be pursuing full legal action against all parties involved in “this cruel act of injustice and will not stop fighting until real justice is served upon those who perpetrated this awful, unlawful and unwarranted action against my son and his co-accused Andre Hinds”.

“The Court of Appeal has granted a full acquittal, showing how false, contrived, and concocted this whole case has been from day one. They also tried to drag my name through the mud to help them carry out their wrongdoings and garner headlines for themselves. Well, this story and those headlines are far from over, and we will see the names of those conspirators and workers of iniquity brought to bear, to face justice and accountability for their egregious actions and motivations,” he added.

Mavado also expressed gratitude to attorneys Hugh Wildman and Oswest Senior-Smith for their work in freeing his son and Hinds.

“I would like to thank Mr Hugh Wildman who never had a doubt this miscarriage of justice would be overturned from the first minute he started reading the court transcript. His leadership and bravery against a system designed to destroy the lives of innocent youth and youth is a service to his country. Big up Mr Oswest Senior Smith for his sharp legal mind and assiduous work in freeing my son and Andre,” he said.

Brooks and Hinds were in March 2021 sentenced to life behind bars for the 2018 murder of Lorenzo “Israel” Thomas in Cassava Piece, St Andrew. According to a report of the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Corporate Communications Unit, at 3:30 am on June 5, 2018, a group of armed men forced their way into the victim’s house where he was shot, chopped and his body set ablaze.

Brooks, who was 16 at the time of the murder, was ordered by trial judge Justice Leighton Pusey, who heard the matter without a jury, to serve 22 years before being eligible for parole. He was also sentenced to 20 years for illegal possession of firearm and 15 years for arson.

His co-accused, Hinds, who was 23 at the time of the incident, was sentenced to life imprisonment for murder and would not have been eligible for parole before 17 years. He was also sentenced to 15 years at hard labour for illegal possession of firearm and 15 years at hard labour for arson.