Jah Cure remanded in custody after interpreter fails to show

Reggae singer Jah Cure was remanded in custody when he appeared in a Netherlands court this week after a court-hired interpreter was unable to attend a substantive hearing in the singer’s case.

“[On Wednesday], the substantive hearing was scheduled but because the interpreter was unable to attend at the last minute, the case has been adjourned,” a representative of the Netherlands Prosecution Service, said.

The case has been rescheduled for October 9 at 2 p.m.

“Until then, the suspect will remain in custody,” the representative said.

The substantive hearing on June 18 had been convened to determine whether Dutch prosecutors can pursue the Reggae singer on an attempted murder charge.

Over the past few months, a Netherlands investigative judge had been hearing witnesses as Dutch prosecutors pressed their appeal against the acquittal of the Unconditional Love singer’s attempted murder charge in the initial trial.

Only hearings where there is application of judicial mind to the resolution of the dispute, are classified as ‘substantive’, in other words, a hearing at which the outcome of a matter is expected to be decided. This may be referred to as a defended hearing (family and civil), a trial (criminal and civil processes) or an appeal hearing.

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. This conviction stems from a stabbing incident in Amsterdam in October 2021, where he attacked a Dutch concert promoter, Nicardo ‘Papa’ Blake, over unpaid performance fees.

He was convicted to a six-year sentence in March 2022 for attempted manslaughter, but he was acquitted of the attempted murder charge.

Jah Cure’s lawyer appealed the attempted manslaughter conviction.

The trial judges had ruled that Jah Cure’s actions were not a premeditated act of attempted murder, and he was acquitted of the more serious charge.