(Jamaica Observer) Rape charges against Capleton were dropped on Wednesday when he appeared in the Kingston and St Andrew Parish Court.
His manager, Claudette Kemp, told the Jamaica Observer that the deejay’s next assignment is to host a children’s treat in his hometown to celebrate his birthday. Capleton, whose many hit songs include That Day Will Come and Jah Jah City, was born on April 13, 1967 in St Mary.
“Right now, he is resting!” she said. “He never got much sleep over the period the case was before the court, but now he is just taking it easy and relaxing.”
Kemp continued: “We were supposed to host a treat in St Mary where he is from in January, but unfortunately, we never got the opportunity to ’cause the month was so busy. But his birthday is coming up in April and instead of keeping a big celebration, we decided that it’s better for us to give back.”
Last April, Capleton was accused of forcibly having sex with a female hairdresser he hired to groom his hair at a New Kingston hotel. He was arrested and charged that month.
At no time did the alleged victim turn up for court.
His attorney, Christopher Townsend, is thankful the case was dismissed in the preliminary stages.
“A case like this takes place in the parish court first then it goes to the Supreme Court. This is the preliminary stage, so no witnesses were called, but statements were taken and that was used as evidence. Now, the statements were not in accordance with the rule so they can’t be used as evidence, so the judge ruled that there was no case,” he told the Jamaica Observer.
Townsend also revealed that during the court stages Capleton was always hopeful.
“Nobody can ever be confident that their case will be dismissed, but what he was confident about was that he was innocent. One can only hope that the justice system will work, though it is sometimes flawed,” he said.
While Capleton did not suffer travel restrictions during this period, Kemp said he lost many overseas shows.
“A lot of promotions overseas were cancelled as promoters wanted to wait to see what would happen. We cannot yet quantify the money that was lost but we can look at the amount of dates that were cancelled, but this is the early stage so we not focusing on that. Right now, he is just happy,” Kemp said.