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Dancehall producer Linval ‘Shabba’ Thompson Jr., popularly known as Shab Don, was found not guilty on Monday of breaching Jamaica’s Corruption Prevention Act in a case alleging he offered a JMD $2 million bribe to police.
The trial began on February 19, 2026, and ended today with the court rejecting the Crown’s case after credibility issues emerged in the testimony of two of its four witnesses. The presiding judge said the inconsistencies in the prosecution’s evidence were too serious to support a conviction.
The charge grew out of an October 14, 2021 stop-and-search in Old Harbour, St. Catherine, during which police found a firearm in a car occupied by Shab Don and an associate, Romaro Scott.
The weapon was later identified as one reported stolen from the Atlanta Police Department in 2018.
Scott, pleaded guilty, saying the gun was his. He was sentenced to six years and one month for illegal firearm possession, while the gun charge against Shab Don was dropped.
Prosecutors then brought the corruption case, alleging that before members of the Specialized Operations SWAT team searched the vehicle and found the gun, Shab Don had offered an officer JMD $2 million to remove the gun and suppress the evidence.
Attorney Donahue Martin represented Shab Don in the Corruption Prevention matter.
Shab Don remains in custody and is still facing a triple murder charge alongside co-accused, Tajay Clark, in the St James Circuit Court.
They are accused of killing 27-year-old Chadwell Frazer, otherwise called ‘Bomb Brain’ or ‘Chad’; 24-year-old Chamario ‘Chippy’ Calvin; and 26-year-old Toniann ‘Too Fly’ Reid.
The three were reportedly shot at a birthday party on Marl Road in Rose Heights, St James, on May 25, 2022.
Donahue Martin has insisted that his client is innocent, as he was “not even close to being anywhere near St. James in that period.”
Shab Don is also being represented by King’s Counsel Tom Tavares-Finson, while Clarke is being represented by Khadine Coleman.
The producer is known for his hybrid trap-dancehall productions, such as Vybz Kartel’s World Government and Bad Mind on the One Don riddim and Any Weather, which was the first single to be released on his most renowned riddim, the G6ixx. As one-half of the Shab Don Records team alongside Carlos Clarke, he also produced Teejay’s Shub Out and Henny and Weed and Squash’s Money Fever.
Shab Don has said he is the son of reggae singer and producer Linval Thompson, but Thompson has denied that claim. The veteran previously told DancehallMag that he would take a DNA test to prove it.
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