Jah Cure heads to court this Wednesday

Reggae recording artiste Jah Cure, who is said to have been involved in a stabbing incident in the Netherlands last October, will have his first public hearing this Wednesday.

According to Franklin Wattimena, press officer with The Netherlands Public Prosecution Service in Amsterdam, the prosecutor at the court of Amsterdam will speak briefly about the state of the investigation.

"It is a pro-forma hearing. The investigation is not complete. The case is therefore not yet being substantively tried. A date for the substantive trial is not yet set," Wattimena informed THE STAR, via email. The hearing is scheduled to take place at 11:45 a.m. Netherlands time, which is about 5:45 a.m. Jamaica time.

The reggae-dancehall entertainer, whose given name is Siccature Alcock, has been in pretrial detention for a little more than eight weeks. He spent his 43rd birthday as well as Christmas and New Year's Day behind bars. The prosecutor can request the court to extend the remand order with a period of up to 90 days, said Wattimena.

He said "The court will decide whether the remand order will be extended or not."

Jah Cure received a 15-year sentence in 1999, after being charged with illegal possession of a firearm, rape and robbery with aggravation, but was released early in 2007. That did not stop the recording artiste from releasing new music. Wile serving time, he recorded and released what is considered to be his biggest hit, the single True Reflections (Prison Walls) as well as the single Longing For. Ironically, Jah Cure's first major performance after his release was in the Netherlands for the Reggae Sundance Festival.

In the latest incident, the singer-songwriter is charged with attempted murder, attempted manslaughter, aggravated assault or attempted aggravated assault as a result of an alleged stabbing incident involving event promoter Nicardo 'Papa' Blake on October 1 at Dam Square, in the city centre of Amsterdam. Jah Cure was in Amsterdam for a performance. He has since secured legal counsel. Tim Scheffer, who obtained his master's degree in criminal law from the University of Amsterdam in 2014 and has been working at Kuijpers en Nillesen Advocaten is representing Jah Cure. Efforts to get in contact with Scheffer about his client's current emotional state and their approach to the hearing were unsuccessful.

However, in a post on Jah Cure's official Instagram page made on January 1 wishing fans a Happy New Year, he shared a video of several of his achievements with the caption: "I never lose, I either win or learn. Greater things are within me, the world is yet to see."