Mavado son walks free from prison

 

An Appeal Court panel, has overturned the convictions and life sentences of Dantay Brooks, son of dancehall artiste "Mavado" and his co accused Andre Hinds, for a 2018 murder, citing unsafe convictions and a substantial miscarriage of justice.

The panel, including President Justice Marva McDonald Bishop, Justice David Fraser, and Justice Kissock Leng, ruled that the trial judge failed to adequately address issues with identification evidence and the credibility of the prosecution’s sole eyewitness.

The court found that the trial judge’s errors deprived the defendants of legal safeguards against unreliable identification evidence, leading to the quashing of their convictions and sentences. The Crown, acknowledging the trial judge’s mishandling of the case, did not seek a retrial.

Brooks and Hinds were convicted in March 2021, for the murder of Lorenzo “Israel” Thomas, in Cassava Piece Saint Andrew. Thomas was killed in a brutal attack in June 2018, during which armed men broke into his home, shot and chopped him, and set his body on fire.

Brooks, 16 at the time, was sentenced to 22 years before parole eligibility, while Hinds, then 23, received life imprisonment with a 17 year parole minimum.

During the appeal, defense attorneys argued that the trial judge mishandled identification evidence, leading to the court’s decision to overturn the convictions, in a ruling that was delivered on March 7, 2025.