BENJAMIN Myrie, father of Jamaican reggae superstar Buju Banton who was yesterday convicted of drug-related charges in the United States, said the guilty verdict that could see his beloved son spending the rest of his life behind bars has left him almost speechless.
"Right now a can't even talk," said a shocked Myrie a little over an hour after the 12-member panel of jurors found Banton guilty of three of four drug and gun-related charges brought against him by the US government.
"I can't even explain how I feel," said a dejected Myrie during a telephone interview.
Myrie's wife, Alga, was too shocked to speak.
"Right now she cannot talk; she is not taking the news so well," a neighbour told the Observer during a visit to her home off Whitehall Avenue in Kingston.
Banton, whose real name is Mark Myrie, was found guilty of conspiracy to possess with intent to distribute five or more kilograms of cocaine, possession of a firearm in furtherance of a drug-trafficking offence, and using the wires to facilitate a drug-trafficking offence by a 12-member panel of jurors.
He was found not guilty on the fourth charge of attempted possession with the intent to distribute cocaine.
The shock, anger and disappointment were felt by friends of the Grammy-winning artiste who gathered at his Exodus recording studio on Carlisle Avenue, just off Red Hills Road.
"To know that he was a youth who worked hard in the music industry the news that this has happened has shocked all of us," said Ricardo 'Junior Cat' Maragh, who was among those who visited the studio.
"It will certainly take a time to come to terms with what has happened," added Kirk 'Confident' Stuart, another recording artiste.
No one offered much else.
"Right now me boss, to the way the news has left us, there is not anyone who is willing to talk at this point," said an unidentified man at the studio.
The news was also painful for Banton's fans from communities in the Red Hills Road area, and throughout the Corporate Area.
"The news that he was found guilty has left me very sad. I did not know him personally but I loved his music," said Shamille Ewart.
A large crowd was seen inside a bar on Whitehall Avenue discussing the dreadful news. They, too, could not hide their grief.
Banton was arrested at his Tamarac home in South Florida in December 2009, a day after his co-defendants Ian Thomas and James Mack were arrested in a government controlled warehouse in Tampa, Florida attempting to buy cocaine from undercover Drug Enforcement agents.
He was jailed for almost 11 months in the Pinellas County Jail and his first trial in September last year ended in a hung jury, forcing a retrial.
The artiste has consistently pleaded his innocence and claims he was entrapped by the US government.
-- Edited by FlameJ.O.P (RADIO ADMIN) on Wednesday 23rd of February 2011 03:15:33 PM
