Dancehall Deejay Charlie Chaplin Faces Malicious Destruction Of Property Charge
Veteran Dancehall deejay Charlie Chaplin will return to court on December 7 to answer charges of malicious destruction of property. He pleaded not guilty when he appeared in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court on Thursday of this week.
The veteran artist, whose given name is Dr Richard Bennett, reportedly intervened in a dispute between his daughter and a male who is one of her neighbours in an apartment complex in the Corporate Area.
Prominent attorney-at-law Hugh Wildman is confident that his client will be exonerated on what he dubbed a “trumped-up charge”.
“It is a rubbish charge, we will deal with it,” Wildman told DancehallMag.
“He went there at the request of his daughter, because his daughter couldn’t get this gentleman to move his vehicle. His daughter could not get access to her place so he went there to find out why he was restricting his daughter from getting access to her place. That is all it is. This is a trumped-up charge.”
Court records alleged that the complainant parked his car in a spot designated for him, but he heard knocking on his door, followed by the words, “Open this door or me a guh set fire to the car.”
It is alleged that Bennett told the complainant that “I just want to see your face because I can call some boys to come deal with it.”
It is alleged that Bennett caused damage to the complainant’s motor vehicle.
The complainant called the police who visited the scene and caution the deejay.
The veteran entertainer was given bail in the sum of $50,000. He was also ordered not to have any contact or communication with the complainant.
Chaplin started his career in 1980 with Stur-Gav, and kept the conscious flag flying during the era when ‘slack’ lyrics dominated. He is known for songs like Que Dem, Off A Shape and Cry Blood.
Chaplin teamed up with Yellowman, then considered the King of Slackness, to create the classic clash album, Slackness vs Pure Culture in 1984.
In 2013, he received an Order of Distinction for his contribution to the development of Jamaican music.
The veteran deejay received a doctorate in Security and Professional Studies from the California-based Global University of Lifelong Learning in June 2018.