Gargamel sentence 'a tough thing' for Whitehall Avenue

Howard Campbell, Gleaner Writer

Olga Myrie was in no mood to talk when The Gleaner visited her home in the Victoria Park housing scheme of Whitehall Avenue, St Andrew, yesterday. It was almost one hour after her stepson, Mark 'Buju Banton' Myrie, was handed a 10-year prison sentence in a Tampa, Florida, Federal court.

A teenage boy riding a bicycle relayed her message: "Shi sey shi don't feel too well. Maybe a next time."

Many persons who grew up with Buju, who is also known as Gargamel, in the working-class community were saddened by the sentence, which ended an 18-month case that placed the reggae world on a knife-edge.

At nearby Whitehall Avenue, Miriam Abrahams found it hard to accept that the area's most famous son would be incarcerated for some time.

"Is a tough thing, yuh nuh, 'cause mi si him work so hard fi mek it. A jus' hope when him come out dem stop fight him," Abrahams said.

Where career began

Rose Wildman said she has known Buju since he broke through in the early 1990s with the song Browning. She believes a higher calling will determine his fate.

"Mi still nah put him down. Wi all do a lot of wrong things but the Father forgive all of us. The Father forgive Buju long time ago," she said.

The Whitehall Avenue neighbourhood inspired some of Buju Banton's biggest hit songs, including Browning, his ode to light-skinned women which announced him as a formidable artiste in 1992.

It is also where his career as a sound-system deejay began - a protégé of other home-grown artistes like Daddy Lizard, Red Dragon and Flourgon.

The usual bustle at Buju's studio at nearby Carlisle Avenue was missing. He recorded most of Before The Dawn, the album that won a Grammy award for Best Reggae Album this year, at the studio.

Buju was arrested at his Miramar, south Florida home in December 2009 and slapped with several drug-related charges. He pled not guilty to each charge but was found guilty by a 12-member jury in February.

Readers Tweet on Buju

Simoneaird

Hopefully, he will use the time and his experience to write some great songs!!!

Mah_lan

I think him (probably) out by 2013 seeing he been good so far.

CDHQ

Very disappointed but I heard FL strict.

sonnycole

Ouch! Dat hurt ... long time to go on a shelf.

Tia_mad_english

Really sad, it's just so disappointing the way things worked out.

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