Incarcerated dancehall star Ninjaman will return to the Home Circuit court on June 2 as his legal team presses ahead with the appeal of his murder conviction.

Attorney-at-law Robert Fletcher confirmed that the Border Clash deejay would return to court but did not reveal any details about the strategy of the legal team.

“The team is going through the transcript now, and noting the discrepancies and conflicting testimonies so that they can mount a formidable defence,” a source told Observer Online.

Ninjaman’s murder appeal was impacted negatively by the sudden illness and death of his attorney-at-law Valerie Neita-Robertson, the 71-year-old legal powerhouse who was spearheading his appeal. Roberston fell ill last October and passed away peacefully on February 25 this year surrounded by her family.

READ: Veteran attorney Valerie Neita-Robertson has died

In a letter penned from his prison cell, Ninjaman said that Neita-Robertson’s passing has left him “heartbroken”.

“In December of last year we were scheduled for a hearing, two weeks before the hearing I was surprised to find out she had fallen ill. Next, she was gone. I am heartbroken, because not only have I lost a great lawyer, a friend, but we all lost a phenomenal woman, a. woman whose legacy will continue to live in those who were inspired by her greatness,” Ninjaman wrote.

Neita-Robertson had intended to challenge the deejay’s murder conviction on the grounds that he did not receive a fair trial, which is a constitutional entitlement of every citizen.

In an interview years ago, Neita-Robertson had pointed to the length of the delays in the case which had seen 17 trial dates and 23 mentions before the actual trial.

It is alleged that on the day in question in March 2009, the now-deceased Ricardo Johnson was sweeping his yard in the company of a friend on Mall Road, St Andrew, when a motor car with three men aboard drove up.

An argument developed between Johnson’s friend and the men, who left but later returned with guns blazing.

Johnson was fatally shot in the incident. Ninjaman turned himself into the police shortly after the incident, upon hearing that he was being sought as a person of interest in the case.

The trial involved seven witnesses, including one who testified that a group of men, led by Ninjaman, entered a yard on the day in question. It was further alleged that the deejay fired two shots at the witness and he had to flee the premises.

“The length of the delay deprived him of his alibi witnesses, and that would have made a great difference. Instead, we had to challenge the credibility of the prosecution’s witnesses without being able to produce witnesses to substantiate Ninjaman’s argument that he was in Mandeville at the time of the shooting,” Neita-Robertson had said at the time.

Neita-Robertson also believed that Ninjaman’s fame and past reputation weighed heavily on the decision by the seven-member jury. The crown relied heavily on the concept of ‘common design’ to infer that the three convicted men were acting together in a common design, which was aimed at using the guns to cause grievous bodily harm to Johnson.

The ‘Don Gorgon’ was convicted and sentenced to life in prison in November 2017 for the murder of Johnson. He was convicted along with his son, Janeil Ballentine, and Dennis Clayton.

He was sentenced to serve at least 25 years in prison before being eligible for parole.

Ninjaman is one of the greatest living masters of lyrical clash. He is known for songs such as Permit to Bury, Free Food Ticket, Ninja Mi Ninja, Murder Dem, Border Clash, Bad Boy No Cub Scout, Church Heathen featuring Shaggy and Dweet featuring Specialist.

— Claude Mills