Mavado threatens legal action after son’s murder conviction overturned

Dancehall artist Mavado has announced plans to pursue legal action against those he accuses of orchestrating a “cruel act of injustice” against his son, Dantay Brooks, and co-accused Andre Hinds.

This move follows the recent overturning of their 2018 murder convictions by the Court of Appeal, which ruled that the trial had been marred by significant legal errors, resulting in a miscarriage of justice.

Brooks and Hinds, who were convicted for the murder of Lorenzo “Israel” Thomas in Cassava Piece, St. Andrew, were freed this week after the Appeal Court panel — comprising Justices Marva McDonald-Bishop, David Fraser, and Kissock Laing — found that the trial judge had mishandled key aspects of the case. The judges highlighted the failure to adequately caution against the risks of unreliable identification evidence and flaws in assessing the credibility of the prosecution’s sole eyewitness.

Mavado, whose real name is David Brooks, broke his silence in an emotional Instagram post, expressing both relief and anger.

“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,” he stated. The artist criticized the judge’s decision to proceed without a jury and accused the prosecution of sensationalizing the case with false claims that were later disproven by forensic evidence.