BY BRIAN BONITTO—
Associate Editor —
Tommy Lee Sparta—
DANCEHALL deejay Tommy Lee Sparta will have to wait behind bars at the Freeport Police Station in Montego Bay, St James, until tomorrow for his question-and-answer session with lawmen, as yesterday’s scheduled interview did not materialize.
The entertainer’s attorney Ernest Smith said the lawmen were a no-show.
“I was there from 11 o’clock today (yesterday). There was no interviews, no question-and-answer and Superintendent [Vernon] Ellis, who we made the arrangements with, was conveniently absent from his office. I called him 27 times and sent him text messages saying: ‘What is going on? We had a firm arrangement for MOCA [Major Organised Crime and Anti-Corruption Agency] and C-TOC [Counter-Terrorism and Organised Crime] to interview my client.’ I cancelled several court appearances to be there,” a furious Smith told the Jamaica Observer last night.
“I’ve never seen anything so misleading. It’s almost an act of disrespect. I left down there [Montego Bay] 4:30 [pm],” he continued.
Superintendent Ellis is commander in charge of the St James Police Division. Several efforts to contact him for a comment were unsuccessful.
Smith said, however, he made new arrangements for the entertainer to be interviewed at 11:30 tomorrow.
Tommy Lee Sparta has been detained since Tuesday, under the current state of public emergency (SOE) in St James. He can be held for 90 days without being charged.
According to the Corporate Communications Unit, the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s information arm, Tommy Lee Sparta was asked to report to the Freeport Police Station to answer questions about the upsurge in violence in the Flanker community of St James. He was given a deadline of midday on Tuesday.
The entertainer’s attorney has, however, declared his client’s innocence.
This is the third time in four years that the entertainer has been listed as a person of interest.
In 2016, detectives in the Kingston Eastern Division listed Tommy Lee Sparta as a person of interest in relation to a shooting incident on Saunders Avenue in the Kingston 2 section of the Corporate Area.
The following year, Freeport Police Station asked that he turn himself in for questioning in relation to a shooting in the Flanker community during the Christmas holiday.
In March this year, the deejay’s six-year-old daughter was shot during an altercation among three men in Flanker. A nine-year-old boy was fatally shot in the incident.
Tommy Lee Sparta’s given name is Leroy Russell. He hails from Flanker in St James, which has been long plagued by crime and violence.
His popular songs include Spartan Soldier, Spartan Angel, Psycho and Rich Badness.
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