Dancehall Artist Laden Released From Prison

Dancehall artist Laden, whose real name is O’keefe Aarons, is now a free man as he was released from prison today after serving almost 30 months of a four-year prison sentence for firearm possession.

Moments after his release, Laden was spotted riding a bike in the parking lot, outside the prison gates. In the clip, the Time to Shine deejay zooms off and then turns towards the camera and his waiting entourage of friends, who cheered him and declared ‘freedom’.

In December 2020, Laden was sentenced to 4 years imprisonment for illegal possession of a firearm and 18 months for the illegal possession of ammunition. Both sentences had been set to run concurrently, so he would have served a maximum of 4 years. He had been in lock-up three months before his sentencing.

Laden was able to apply for parole after one year.

The deejay had pleaded guilty to charges of illegal possession of firearm, illegal possession of ammunition, and failing to stop at the request of the police when he was spotted breaching the national curfew set to limit the spread of COVID-19.

The police reported that about 10:40 p.m. on October 28, lawmen were in Cheapside, St Elizabeth, when they signalled the driver of a black Mercedes-Benz motor car to stop.

The driver, which turned out to be Laden, initially complied with the order, but sped off when the police approached.

A chase ensued and during the chase, an object was seen being thrown from the sunroof of the car.

The object turned out to be a firearm.

Laden rose to fame as a Digicel Rising Star top ten finalist under the stage name ‘Jim Laden’, and is known for songs like Time to Shine, Feelings too Heavy, Inna Life, and Never Lonely.