Popular deejay, Zebra, whose real name is Garfield Vassell, who has spent the last seven years in prison doing time for a rape conviction is now set to be released from the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre, in Kingston on Tuesday, September 9. The Commissioner of Corrections, Major Richard Reese, confirmed this information to the national media on Monday, September 2. “That’s the earliest release date he has.”, Major Reese stated.
Zebra, who is known for such hits as, “Rupert”, “Redder Than Red”, “Jah Send Me To Warn”, Warn”, “Wha Yuh Run Fah”, “Picture Frame”, “Dem Unfair Eh-Nuh”, among others, was imprisoned in 2001 after he was convicted and sentenced to 10 years for the rape, assault at the common- law, indecent assault and breaching a probation order. The charges stemmed from: the rape he committed on an 18-year-old university student who he assaulted in bushes near Barry, in St. Catherine, in January 2001; an incident that involved his then girlfriend, Sherilla “Zebress” Williams, resulted in him being arraign and convicted for the assault at common-law offence. Zebra and Williams, reportedly had an argument at their Oakland Apartment home and Williams was allegedly beaten.
Concerning yet another incident that took place on
Zebra was born and raised in the parish of St.Catherine, and the news of his impending release has galvanized his friends to come together and organize a celebration of his return to freedom.
The celebration will take the form of a party and concert. The promoters of the event informed the national media saying in effect that, the event which is titled, “Welcome back Zebra”, was originally planned for this Saturday, Sept. 6, (the day it was rumoured he would be released). However due to the misinformation surrounding his release date and subsequent problems procuring a sound system to play at the event, it has been postponed to a future date.
Further, Reggae Time has learnt that the promoters have finally decided to use the weekly dance event, “Canal Splash”, (‘the back to school’ edition’); to welcome back the artiste.
The Welcome Back party will now take place on Sunday September 13, in Ellerslie Pen, (a community commonly known as ‘
The promoters for the concert say they knew Zebra before he got his big break as a nationally known deejay and has stayed in constant contact with the artiste’s family throughout his incarceration. It is said that many people are anxiously awaiting his return to the music scene, as they are sure he can ‘wreck’ the place again with his special deejaying style.
Zebra rose to his peak of popularity in the early to mid 1990s emulating the deejaying style of
the once supremely popular deejay icon, Tiger. Zebra is the son of veteran reggae vocalist, Dennis walks.