By Shereita Grizzle – Staff Reporter—

Bounty Killer addressing the small gathering at Red Stripe’s head-quarters yesterday at a forum on eliminating violence against women.—

Despite a troubled past dogged by domestic abuse allegations, dancehall legend Bounty Killer continues to show that he is a reformed man.

The entertainer has become a constant voice in the fight against domestic abuse, and his latest platform to do so came at a violence against women forum at Red Stripe’s offices yesterday.

At the forum, the artiste spoke openly about his abusive past, admitting that even after 10 years, the consequences of his actions still linger.

“I used to be cross, angry, miserable. As yuh say ‘Hey’, mi say ‘nay’, and me ready fi ‘lay’, but it put me inna some serious consequences. Over the years, until this day, some a dem still stay. Yuh hear dem say I was arrested for hammering a young lady, that was a lie. I did not hammer no young lady, but I did assault that young lady,” he confessed. “And hammer her, or box her, or touch her, it was still assault, so I did something wrong. It doesn’t matter if it was a big thing or little thing, it should’ve been nothing.”

Bounty Killer noted that even though that was a decade ago, he still received backlash from the public when he performed at an International Women’s Day show a few years ago.

“I get a piece a backlash trying to make a change, trying to be a better version of myself, trying to own up to my wrongs and trying to tell everybody that it is not a good thing. It not supposed to happen and please prevent it,” he said.

OTHERS AFFECTED

The deejay also shared that he wasn’t the only one affected by his actions and that’s one of the main reasons why he changed his ways.

“Even my kids get mockery at school, and that’s not a good impact on them,” he said. “I lost my visa 10 years ago also and it was all because of my name in the media implicating me in all those things. All those losses and consequences is just from lifting up your hands, and when you come out of your anger, yuh always realize say a foolishness yuh do, but it done gone bad already.”

The veteran deejay said he feels the need to always share his story whenever he gets the chance because domestic violence continues to spiral out of control.

“Dem say when yuh burn, yuh learn, and I’ve been through the fire and have been purified. Mine was a case weh it never take no lives, but this is becoming a real epidemic now where we see lovers killing each other in their own homes. That’s a curse,” he said. “We need good role models and that’s what I keep searching for, the better version of myself. That’s why I gladly take this opportunity to come in and talk, reason, and see what kind of solutions we can come up with.”

NO RIGHT IN WRONG

Urging the audience to ‘talk it out or walk it out’, the hardcore deejay encouraged spouses to pay attention to the actions of their significant others, noting that “the wrong person will never do the right thing”.

He also shared his secret to holding his own anger: “Me start look pan my woman like my mother or my daughter because me would never lift my hand fi hit Miss Ivy (his late mom) all when she say the most hurtful things, and me never hit one a my daughters yet. So when my woman a chat, me just say ‘Arite Miss Ivy, gwaan talk’, and me just walk away’.”