Mavado Wishes Incarcerated Son Dantay Brooks A Happy Birthday
Dancehall deejay Mavado sent a Happy Birthday message to his son Dantay Brooks, who’s celebrating his nineteenth birthday behind bars.
In an Instagram post today, the Touch The Road singer, 40, shared a photo with his son which was captioned, “Happy birthday son love you kid.💪🏿👊🏿🔑”
Last month, Dantay Brooks and his co-accused Andre Hinds were sentenced to life in prison for murder, arson and the illegal possession of a firearm and ammo. Brooks must serve at least 22 years before being eligible for parole, while Hinds must serve at least 17 years.
“Blessed Bornday Dante. Better Mus Come,” wrote one user. “Happy birthday young lord one day you be reunited with your dad,” added another.
“Happy Birthday Dante. Freedom love and light young king young warrior,” wrote another fan. “Happy birthday freedom is must youth god not sleeping youth.”
Among the efforts to secure the teenager’s freedom is an appeal. “We have fertile ground on which to effect an appeal. We respect the judge’s decision, but we will be acting on the right of persons to challenge the ruling,” Brooks’ lawyer, Peter Champagnie said.
Asked why Brooks had a more lengthy sentence than his co-accused, Champagne explained to DancehallMag that “the court felt that the role of Brooks was more instrumental than Hinds. The record came back that Brooks was on bail on another matter at the time the offence was committed, and that was not the case with Hinds.”
Brooks and Hinds were founded guilty in January this year on the three charges which stemmed from a 2018 home invasion in Cassava Piece, St. Andrew that left Lorenzo Thomas dead.
During the trial, prosecutors presented evidence that Brooks and Hinds were among five men who stormed into Thomas’ house and shot him. Thomas’ father, who was unharmed, provided crucial witness testimony which included the gang’s attempts to sever Thomas’ head and the use of gasoline to set the body and house on fire.
Following the verdict, Mavado cried “corruption” and contended that his teenaged son and co-accused Hinds were not given a fair trial.
The Gully Gad has vowed to fight for the freedom of the two young men.
“I promise to fight for the lives of these two innocent youths. It’s like my son was found guilty before trial, but I’m going to point out everything and the injustice one day at a time,” he wrote at the time.