Attorney-at-law R Bouwman, who is representing Dutch concert promoter Nicardo ‘Papa’ Blake, the victim of a stabbing assault at the hands of reggae singer Jah Cure, is making an appeal to fans to not ‘victim-blame’ his client.

“I don’t understand why everyone is choosing the side of the perpetrator,” Bouwman told Observer Online.

“Even though Jah Cure is famous, everyone should acknowledge that he is the one who has a problem. I don’t understand it, it is a bit unusual.”

Blake has been repeatedly excoriated for his role in the stabbing incident in the Netherlands by reggae fans who allege that Blake is somehow ‘responsible’ for Jah Cure’s actions and eventual incarceration. Cure was convicted after he stabbed Blake over unpaid performance fees in October 2021. Jah Cure, whose real name is Siccature Alcock, has been in pre-trial detention in Amsterdam while awaiting the handling of the prosecutors’ appeal of his 2022 conviction.

In October 2025, the Amsterdam Court of Appeal agreed with the prosecutors, overturned the previous verdict, and found Jah Cure guilty of the more serious charge of attempted murder. The appeal court increased his sentence to eight years and four months in prison. Prosecutors had initially requested a 9.5-year sentence.

The lower court had also ordered Jah Cure to pay Blake €9,452.49 in material and non-material damages.

“Take into consideration that my client is a victim, he is not here to put blame on the singer, on someone who is famous and (who has) done a lot for Jamaica. He is a victim…the award doesn’t cover the full range of his costs,” Bouwman said.

Blake’s attorney said that Jah Cure has appealed the ruling in the Netherlands Court of Appeal.

“It could be months, even years. It will take a while even though he is in custody. For now, he has an eight-and-a-half-year sentence. There has been a reduction but that’s basically the situation now,” he said.

Bouwman has not ruled out a civil case against Jah Cure. “I am not sure, it depends on what is going on  and what happens next,” he said.

“My client wants peace, in the sense that he doesn’t want peace with him (Jah Cure) but he wants a line drawn in the sand, meaning everything is done but if the perpetrator doesn’t accept his sentence, it’s hard to say everything is done, and everything is ok,” Bouwman added.

Bouwman reasoned that although Jah Cure has failed to show contrition, the singer has maintained that the act wasn’t “intentional”.

“It’s harder to regret something, he (Cure) said there was a beef between them, but there was no evidence of that…I don’t understand why the reggae community is against my client”.

Bouwman said the violent act was captured on CCTV cameras in Damhead Square, and images re-broadcast in court.

“You cannot see all the way directly but you can sort of interpret what happened,” the lawyer said.

In the meantime, Blake said he has “forgiven Jah Cure” following the October 2021 incident in which the reggae singer stabbed him over a disputed performance fee. However, Blake maintains that while he harbors no malice, the memory of the attack remains vivid. “Because mi is a God-fearing yute, mi forgive him, but mi no forget,” Blake told Observer Online.

Blake recalled the horrific, violent nature of the attack, observing that it was sheer luck he survived the altercation.

“The doctor told me that if Cure did only stab me with more power and him hand go up inna the air more, then him woulda stab mi direct inna mi heart,” he said. Blake described the meeting at Dam Square as a “daylight ambush,” and claimed that the singer lulled him into a false sense of security.

“He called me and ah talk to me normal and mi say ‘yuh calm down now’ and him say ‘yeah come link me and mek we talk and if yuh nah come, say yuh nah come, memba say we have business  to handle’, and mi say mi soon forward. He then made a video and showed me Dam Square,” Blake explained.

Blake said he ran an errand with his son and went to see the singer in Dam Square hours later.

“I never felt the stab, is like dem garlic the knife, ah look mi look pon the jacket and see the cut, and him start make noise and the whole excitement start and him start run offa the scene and one thing to the next,” Blake added. Blake needed emergency surgery to save his life, doctors said.

The Netherlands Court of Appeal laid out in excruciating detail the bodily harm Blake suffered, “including perforation of the retroperitoneum and a perforation of his stomach”.

“The anterior and posterior walls of the stomach, retroperitoneum, and left rectus had to be surgically closed, resulting in a large, disfiguring scar running from under his chest to his lower abdomen. This injury also had significant consequences, in that the injured party required treatment after his surgery for persistent pain from the stab wound and underwent further surgery in 2024 due to complications,” the Court of Appeal said in a recent ruling.

“Him coulda kill me, I will never forget what he did, me and him can never be friends. I don’t sorry for him, everything him ah face, ah him put himself inna it,” Blake stated.

Blake’s attorney is pleased with the outcome of the case. He addressed the monetary award that the higher court awarded his client.

“This is basically what happens in Holland, it is not like a country where you can have big claims regarding money which is lost but in general, what is important here is that he was hurt. He has endured a lot of operations, he still has a lot of medical problems due to what happened to him, so therefore, this was more than normal to request a sum of money,” he explained.

Since Jah Cure has appealed the ruling in the Court of Appeals, the award has not been collected by the courts. Cure is represented by attorney at law G Roethof.