The 16-year-old son of Jamaican dancehall artist and deejay, Mavado, is still in police custody in connection with the murder of a 23-year-old man who was shot, chopped into pieces and set ablaze in his home in Cassava Piece, St Andrew, on June 5.
The unnamed minor and four other associates of Mavado, who was in the United States at the time, were arrested last week and accused of killing Lorenza Thomas in a suspected reprisal attack.
Local reports indicate that two weeks prior to the incident, there was violence in the community and Mavado was shot after a dispute with a group of men in the community.
The police have since released three of the arrested men and kept Mavado’s son and 23-year-old Andre Hinds who were both charged with murder, conspiracy to murder, arson, shooting with intent and illegal possession of firearm and ammunition, the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Corporate Communications Unit announced.
The two men were charged after they appeared in court last week. The boy was transferred to a juvenile detention centre in Kingston where he is currently being held as the investigation continues.
One of the three men released is Mavado’s cousin Chase Cross who was earlier released on bond and then re-arrested and charged with assaulting Anthony Goulbourne, the man charged with shooting at Mavado during the June 2 incident.
Mavado failed to meet a June 6 deadline of the police to report to them and assist in the investigations. Superintendent Glenford Miller, head of the St. Andrew North Police, had warned that they will not wait indefinitely for the artiste to surrender to them.
Meanwhile, his lawyer Tamika Harris is reported to have said that he has contractual agreements in the United States to fulfil and he will corporate with the police upon his return.