Tommy Lee Sparta is looking to sue the Government of Jamaica over wrongful detainment.
The Gothic Dancehall artiste, real name is Leroy Russell, was released from Police custody on Monday after being in lockup since July 7.
Sparta was asked to report to the Freeport Police Station in St James to answer questions about the upsurge in violence in the Flanker community.
A State of Emergency (SOE) instituted in the parish allowed citizens to be detained for up to 90 days without being charged. The SOEs across Jamaica ended on Monday ahead of Tuesday’s Nomination Day (August 18) and the September 3 General Elections.
Tommy Lee Sparta’s release comes after Jamaica’s Security Minister, Dr. Horace Chang, announced that persons who have been held during SOE could be released on August 17, if there was no incriminating evidence against them.
On Monday, the “Blessings” deejay’s attorney Ernest Smith, confirmed that a ruling by the tribunal found that there was no justifiable reason for Tommy Lee Sparta to have been detained under State of Emergency (SOE) regulations.
Now a free man, Tommy Lee Sparta is looking to take the Government to court. According to Smith, he will be filing a lawsuit against the state for keeping his client in custody with “absolutely no justification.”
“The tribunal handed down their findings today (Monday) and I received an email at 11:59 a.m. with the details,” Smith told the publication. “The tribunal ruled that the evidence was insufficient to keep Leroy Russell detained in the interest of public safety and that he should be released immediately. That means that whether or not the SOE was disbanded, my client would have been set free,” the attorney said.
Ernest Smith went on to share more details on the entertainer’s progress, including his mature response to a question about avenging his daughter’s shooting. “During one of the question-and-answer sessions, they brought up the fact that his little daughter had been shot and asked if he wasn’t going to seek vengeance. Tommy Lee told them that he has asked the Lord to protect his child and that vengeance belongs to God. I was so proud of him,” the lawyer said.
Smith strongly believes that Tommy Lee Sparta’s detainment was driven by longstanding malice and not evidence. This is reportedly the third time that the deejay has been called in for questioning in four years. His lawyer recalls one incident six years ago when he was acquitted of baseless charges against him.
“In 2014, the police from St James carried out a raid on his house in Kingston and accused him of lottery scamming,” Smith said. “He went to court and was acquitted on a no-case submission, which only highlighted the weakness of the prosecution’s case.” Smith intends to file a lawsuit for false imprisonment and loss of income. While Tommy Lee has appeared on several dancehall albums during his detainment, he has lost revenue from shows, according to his attorney.
Smith revealed that Tommy Lee Sparta lost millions of dollars from shows he was booked for in Western parishes where cops forced promoters to removed him from lineup. “Promoters were threatened that they would not receive permits to host the events unless they removed his name off the poster,” the lawyer said.
He added that Tommy Lee Sparta was also “named persona non grata by the US Embassy because of the file that the police has created on him.”
