Khago denies feud with mother

CURTIS CAMPBELL, STAR Writer

Dancehall artiste Khago has denied allegations made by his younger sister, Natayna Gayle, that he is blaming his mother for the decline in airplay on local radio.

According to Khago’s publicist, Derven Patterson, Khago’s statements in a recent television interview about family, was taken out of context.

Khago’s sister told The STAR yesterday, that the artiste is selling the idea that his mother is not supportive of him, and is making moves to rip his music from local radio. She also said that several persons have drawn the assumption that his mother does not have his best interest at heart.

“He is saying his mother goes to media houses to stop his songs from playing and that is a lie. I don’t know where Khago gets his stories from. His mother does not have that power so Khago should get his facts right before he goes to the public with news like that. She is not even a part of the music industry so that makes no sense. I have never seen him smoke anything nor drink liquor, so I don’t know what is wrong with him and if it was anybody else that said the things he did on that platform we would sue him or take it further,” she said.

Biggest enemy

The seemingly concerned sister says the artiste should blame himself for his own problems.

“Khago likes his own way and always wants to be a boss and he is just a basket. He is his biggest enemy and he is the one mashing up his career because of his ego. He even said he is not sure if his mother is his real mother and that is strange coming from Khago,” Gayle said.

The STAR contacted publicist from Khago’s camp, Derven ‘Flexx’ Patterson, for a comment. He said Khago was finished with that issue and that the artiste was not talking about his mother in his interview.

Blood mother

“We are done with that and don’t want to do anymore interviews on that topic. Khago was not speaking about his blood mother. There is no problem with him and his mother right now and we just want to clear the air, because that interview was taken out of context. Generally, you have family members that can be vindictive, so Khago was talking about the mothers and family members who are generally not supportive of their own. But he was not talking about his own mother. People from the music business can relate to the situation where the immediate family is not supportive,” Patterson said.

Khago recently released music videos for singles It Was All A Dream and Ready For Love produced by Notnice Records.

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Khago denies feud with mother

Brother Of Girl Who Was Starved To Death By Mother, Brought Food To Her Funeral ‘So His Sister Could Eat In Heaven’

The five-year-old brother of a girl who was beaten and starved to death by their mother brought food to her funeral so she would have enough to eat in heaven, it was revealed.
‘Monster mom’ Carlotta Brett-Pierce was found guilty of murder last month and sentenced to 32 years to life in prison yesterday.
Her four-year-old daughter Marchella died covered in bruises and open wounds and weighing only 19 pounds in September 2010. She was found drugged and beaten, tied to her SpongeBob SquarePants bed at the Brooklyn home.

The little girl, who was force-fed allergy pills, was often beaten in front of her brother Tymel.
Prosecutor Jacqueline Kagan revealed that Tymel, now seven, was deeply traumatized by the events he witnessed at home and still grieves for his sister.
When he attended her funeral, he had brought food with him so that he could help his sister.

Ms Kagan said: ‘He brought with him food because he knew she didn’t get enough. And he told his foster mother, ”I hope that she gets enough food and water in heaven,”’ according to the New York Post.
The month-long trial of Brett-Pierce, 32, in a Brooklyn court room finished quickly on May 9 with the jury requiring only one hour to deliberate over her guilt.

When Marchella Brett-Pierce was found, she was tied to her bed with jump ropes, had been beaten, starved and drugged.
Prosecutors say she had dozens of marks and open wounds on her tiny body which was so emaciated, every rib could be seen.
Carlotta Brett-Pierce was emotionless when the jury proclaimed her guilty of her daughter Marchella’s death. Her punishment did not even stop her from giving the judge some attitude when asked if she understood.
‘I heard what you said,’ the 32-year-old said.

She has refused to accept blame for the death of her daughter, blaming the jurors, lawyers and the press for her murder conviction, calling it a ‘tragedy’.
Brooklyn Supreme Court Justice Patricia DiMango said yesterday: ‘This child, at her tender age, was subjected to a hell that no one should have to endure.
‘What kind of person could do this to a child, let alone their own child?’ she said, according to DNAinfo.com
During the trial, Brett-Pierce’s answers painted a ghastly picture of their home life.
She said of her daughter near the time of her September 2010 death: ‘To me, at the time, it didn’t look bad.’

Brett-Pierce said that her daughter lost weight by running around in the heat and sustained the bruises from falling in the stairway.
Judge DiMango also sentenced grandmother Loretta Brett to five to 15 years in prison for manslaughter in the death.
Throughout the trial, her lawyers switched between disproving the prosecutions tales of horrific beatings and arguing that Brett-Pierce was an overwhelmed mother with a sick daughter that she didn’t know how to care for.
Marchella spent the first three-and-a-half years of her life in hospital after she was born prematurely with severe breathing difficulties.
Her mother admitted on the stand that in the seven months she was in her care, she never took the four-year-old to a pediatrician.

A prosecutor showed the mother a doctor’s note indicating that her youngest boy weighed 18 pounds at nine months – roughly the same weight as four-year-old Marchella when she died.
She told the court she fed her daughter ‘potato chips, fried chicken and cheese doodles’, but an autopsy recorded that only a single corn kernel was found in her body, along with a high level of antihistamines.
Marchella should have been on a specialized diet and fed through a tube, which prosecutors say the mother totally ignored, instead feeding her junk food.

During questioning she denied certain things she had already told police and called Marchella ‘my baby’ as opposed to ‘that b***h’ – which she was heard calling her in a recorded jail conversation played for the jury saying: ‘That b***h wasn’t that f***ing light.’
When she was released from hospital seven months before her death, she weighed 26lbs- a stark contrast from her final weight of 18.9 pounds.
The Administration for Children’s Services became involved with the family after Brett Pierce gave birth to a boy who tested positive for drugs.
Two social workers from ACS who had involvement in Marchella’s case were charged separately with criminally negligent homicide for failing to prevent the tragic death.
Damon Adams and Chereece Bell were both charged with criminally negligent homicide, official misconduct and endangering the welfare of a child. Their case is due to begin.

Posted in: Breaking News, Current News, International. Tags: Brother Of Girl Who Was Starved To Death By Mother, Brought Food To Her Funeral ‘So His Sister Could Eat In Heaven’.

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Brother Of Girl Who Was Starved To Death By Mother, Brought Food To Her Funeral ‘So His Sister Could Eat In Heaven’

Mother with womb transplant says risk paid off‏

Saturday, October 04, 2014 | 10:00 AM    

LONDON (AP) — For the world’s first baby born to a woman with a transplanted womb (a medical first) only a victorious name would do, which is why his parents named him ‘Vincent’, meaning “to conquer”, according to his mother.

The 36-year-old Swedish mother learned she had no womb when she was 15 and was devastated, she said Saturday in an interview with The Associated Press.

“I was terribly sad when doctors told me I would never carry my own child,” said the woman, who asked not to be identified.

More than a decade later, she heard about research led by Dr Mats Brannstrom, a professor of obstetrics and gynecology at the University of Gothenburg and Stockholm IVF, on transplanting wombs into women who didn’t have one. She immediately signed up.

“Mats told us there were no guarantees, but my partner and I, maybe we like to take risks, we thought this was the perfect idea,” she said.

The woman’s mother had wanted to be a donor but wasn’t a match. Instead, she received her new womb from a 61-year-old family friend, who had previously had two sons.

The womb donor is now baby Vincent’s godmother and her two sons have also come to visit the family.

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Mother with womb transplant says risk paid off‏

Ninja Man’s son freed after mother pays his $300,000 lotto scam fine

Monday, September 29, 2014 | 3:49 PM    

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Ninja Man’s son Kimani Ballentine was this afternoon released from jail after his mother paid the $300,000 he was slapped with for his involvements in the lotto scam.

“The fine was paid and he’s out,” his attorney Christopher Townsend told OBSERVER ONLINE. “His mother paid the fine and he was out as at 3 o’clock.” 

The 25-year-old Ballentine was arrested last year at a house in Old Harbour St Catherine and charged after several lead sheets containing the names and addresses of persons living in the United States were found there.

He pleaded guilty last week Friday in the St Catherine Circuit Court. 

He was fined $300,000 and ordered to serve 12 months behind bars if the fine is not paid.?

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Ninja Man’s son freed after mother pays his $300,000 lotto scam fine

American beheading suspect"s mother apologises in video

Monday, September 29, 2014 | 6:43 AM    

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) – The mother of an American worker suspected of beheading one of several colleagues he had tried to convert to Islam has broken her silence, apologised in a video posted online.

Alton Nolen, 30, is due to be charged Monday with first-degree murder, as well as assault and battery with a deadly weapon. He may also face federal charges.

It was after being fired from his job at the Vaughan Foods in an Oklahoma City suburb that Nolen went on a frenzied knife rampage Thursday, severing the head of a colleague and wounding another before being shot by his former boss.

“My heart is just so heavy right now,” his mother Joyce Nolen said in the video posted Saturday on Facebook. “That’s not my son.”

The incident came in the wake of a series of beheadings of Western captives by militant fighters in the Middle East and Algeria, but US officials have not confirmed any link to the Oklahoma case. Nolen had recently converted to Islam.

“His family, our hearts bleed right now because what they saying Alton has done,” Nolen’s mother said in the short video statement, sitting next to her daughter Megan.

“I want to apologise to both families — because this is not Alton.”

She said she was hoping that justice will prevail and “the whole story will come out.”

In a separate Facebook entry, Megan Nolen said her brother “has been a great influence to me and has always been a loving and caring person.”

“He has never been a violent person and has never done any physical harm to anyone. Only God knows why what happened took place,” she added.

“I am praying for the families as well as for my brother.”

On Facebook, Nolen went by the moniker Jah’Keem Yisrael. He posted photographs of the World Trade Center towers going up in smoke during the September 11, 2001 attacks and of graves.

“SHALOM ALHAKEIUM O YE MUSLIMS AND NON-MUSLIMS ON THE DAY OF JUDGMENT THE ONES WHO DIED IN FAITH (SERVANTS OF ALLAH SWT) WILL RISE FROM THE DEAD TO BE JUDGED WITH EVERYBODY ON EARTH WHOS STILL LIVING…THE ONES WHO DIED IN SIN WILL REMAIN IN THEIR GRAVES CAUSE THEIR ALREADY IN HELL!!!” he wrote on September 17 in a posting that got five “likes”.

In another post in May disparaging Americans who eat pork, women who don’t cover their hair and gays getting married, he warned that “SHARIA LAW IS COMING!!!!!!”

His account shows he has 1,470 “friends,” many of them women wearing the Muslim veil.

The Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City has stressed that “this unwarranted act does not represent Islam in any shape or form.”

“We condemn, and are 100% against, the heartless & unnecessary act committed by the suspect. We stand for justice.”

Local media quoted the group’s Saad Mohammed as saying other Muslims who attended the same mosque as Nolen considered him “a little odd” and “a little weird”.

But Mohammed also noted that Nolen’s behavior did not raise any red flags, and that he had attended services during which sermons were delivered condemning beheadings such as those committed by Islamic State militants based in Iraq and Syria.

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American beheading suspect"s mother apologises in video

Taxi man granted bail after death of mother, child

Rasbert Turner, Star Writer

The driver of the ill-fated car which resulted in the death of a mother and child has been granted bail in the sum of $1.5 million.

He is George Richardson, 62-year-old taxi operator of Hellshire Park, St Catherine.

He is charged with the deaths of Jaharian Durrant, who is in her 30s, and five-year-old Jascinth Haynes, both of Hellshire Heights, St Catherine.

When the case was mentioned in the Spanish Town Resident Magistrate’s Court on Tuesday, attorney-at-Law Andrew Irving made a successful bail application.

He said Richardson was not a flight risk and will return for his trial. Bail was originally set at $2 million but the lawyer successfully asked that it be reduced. It was then reduced to $1.5 million with one, two or three sureties.

The accident occurred about 6 a.m. September 3, along the Hellshire main road in St Catherine.

It is said that Richardson was driving his 1999 Toyota Camry motor car with six passengers along the Hellshire main road. He allegedly overtook a line of traffic and crashed into a utility pole.

Durrant and Haynes were seated behind. They suffered serious injuries and were pronounced dead at hospital.

Richardson was among persons treated at hospital.

He is to reappear in the Spanish Town Resident Magistrate’s Court on December 9.

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Taxi man granted bail after death of mother, child

South Manchester twins mourn killing of their mother

KENESHA Nelson will never be able to forget that fateful day when Joseph Francis stood in the dock of the Mandeville Circuit Court and confessed why he killed her mother, Claudette Reid-Nelson, 49, as he was about to be sentenced.

Francis had, some three- and-a-half years before, used a large kitchen knife to almost sever the woman’s head before fleeing the quiet farming village of Warwick in South Manchester.The killer stared at the woman’s two daughters, the only ones brave enough to follow the trial through to the end, and tried to explain why he committed the sordid act.“He said he killed her because she was going abroad and was not coming back to him. At first he gave a statement that it was provocation, but when he made that confession on the final day the judge declared that the act was premeditated murder and sentenced him to 21 years,” Nelson said.Francis has since appealed the sentence, but was slapped with four more years after his appeal was rejected.But despite the extended sentence, the woman’s twin daughters realise that nothing Francis will go through during his time behind prison walls will bring back their beloved mother.“Even if him get a million years it will not bring back my mother,” Kenesha, the more talkative of the two, said.For Denesha, not even the death penalty would be enough.“There are times when I think about it and wish he was put to death, but you realise that death is no revenge and can’t remedy the situation, even though I get very angry at times,” she said.Kenesha and Denesha were 17 years old at the time of the incident, and nine years later, both are mothers but neither has been able to come to grips with the way their mother was taken away from them.Reid-Nelson was a businesswoman and a farmer who operated a small shop in the district. Years before her untimely demise she had hired Francis to assist on her farm.Eventually, both became lovers although he was more than a decade her junior.The union was not approved by Reid-Nelson’s four daughters and they constantly warned their mother to get rid of Francis.But the woman did not heed their warning and on one fateful morning in June 2004, when she did not awake early as usual to tend to her grandchildren’s needs, her four-year-old grandson went in search of her in her room.The child stumbled on a gruesome scene.His grandmother was lying in a pool of her own blood. Her head was attached to her body only by a tiny string of flesh and she suffered several stab wounds.There was also a footprint in her back.To date, that child has not recovered from the sight and has been relocated from the community to live with his father’s relatives.“He will never recover. Up until now that boy don’t get over it and all the while I worry for him,” Denesha told the Jamaica Observer.A black and white merino, a bloodied pair of jeans and a knife were found by residents at the back of the shop where the couple lived and were handed over to homicide investigators.The night that she was killed, Reid-Nelson held a dance and residents reported that Francis had begun acting strangely and started to chase patrons away.The dance reportedly made $80,000 in profit but that money was never found.Residents also reported that days before the murder, Francis had been seen sharpening a large knife and swearing that he was going to commit murder, but no one took him seriously.“You feel traumatised all the time. I see the image of her body all the time and it keeps haunting me. It is not nice. It not pretty,” Denesha said.Her sister was too traumatised to look at the gory sight and never saw her mother’s remains until the day of her funeral.Francis had been on the run for all of two years before he was eventually collared, and during that time Reid-Nelson’s relatives and residents of Warwick, a community which had never before experienced any kind of violent murder, were fearful that he would return to the community and do more harm.Everyone was on the alert.“He never liked me one bit because I always told her to get him out. I know he would have killed me if he got the chance, so not even six o’clock would catch us on the street and if it did, we paid people to follow we home,” Denesha said.Francis was captured after an all-night trek through thick bushes in the district of Orange Vale in deep rural northern St Catherine.After a six-hour operation during which the cops used no flashlights or machetes and moved stealthily in a bid not to alert Francis, the lawmen finally found him huddled inside a small two- walled hut about three feet high, which was covered with branches and leaves.The unkempt Francis, dressed in shorts and a torn shirt and with dirt caked in his hair and on his body, welcomed his capture and during the long trek back to civilisation, confessed to the cops that he had murdered his lover. The cops also claimed that Francis confessed to another murder — that of a man known only as ‘Friday’ from Riversdale, St Catherine in 1999.Months before, Francis had managed to avoid capture after cops went after him in a district known as Freedom, close to Riversdale.As news of his capture spread, an angry mob descended on the Alligator Pond police station in Manchester and demanded that he be handed over to them so that they could deliver their own brand of justice.But even though the man who had caused them untold woe had now been captured and was behind bars, the trauma continued for Reid-Nelson’s relatives as it took over two years for his trial to get underway.Yanique Daley, Reid-Nelson’s granddaughter, was only 12 at the time of the macabre murder but the memory still remains fresh in her mind.“I am still jerked up about it. You can never get over things like that no matter how long ago it happened,” she said.For Denesha the memories flood her mind and tears flow freely every Mother’s Day.“It is especially hard when we hear other people sending out greetings to their mother and to know that we lost our mother at the hands of a villain. It is very painful,” she said.But her sister said that she is trying to stay strong in the face of an inestimable tragedy.“No matter what, we will have to live with it and try to cope,” she said.The pain also still lingers in Warwick and, according to Reid-Nelson’s neighbour Gladstone Allwood, the road to recovery will be long and arduous.“This is something the community will never forget because things like that never happen around here,” he said.Reid-Nelsons twin daughters Denesha Reid (left) and Kenesha Reid (centre) and her granddaughter Yanique Daley are all still traumatised after her gruesome murder nine years ago. (PHOTOS: GARFIELD ROBINSON)Reid-Nelson’s daughter Denesha Reid, in a reflective mood.The late Claudette Reid-Nelson.

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South Manchester twins mourn killing of their mother

Mother knew Francis would deliver

EARLIER this month when schoolboy Javon Francis told his mother Violet Palmer that he would try his best to help Jamaica secure a medal at the World Championships in Russia, little did she know that his performance would be one of the ‘most talked about’ in Russia.

However, the 42-year-old mother said she knew that the statement made by the young athlete was not one that should be taken lightly.On Friday, the 18-year-old 2012 IAAF World Junior Championships finalist, who at age 11 was able to save a baby from a fire, produced a performance that is still being described by many track experts as “brilliant, determined and gusty”, to help Jamaica secure a silver in the 4×400-metre relay.The run by the men’s quartet of Rusheen McDonald, Javere Bell, Edino Steele and Francis triggered mass celebrations across the island.In sections of Bull Bay, where the teenager lives, residents could not hide their emotions.Palmer was one of those individuals.“I was at home watching the race on my TV and when I saw him (Francis) get the baton I could not stop jumping and shouting,” Palmer told the Sunday Observer.The mother of five said she was always confident that he would do well based on the conversation she had with him before he departed the island for Moscow.“Before he left he told me that he would do all he could to help his country secure a medal,” said Palmer.She said based on the promise she was not surprised when she saw her son’s vow bearing fruit.Palmer made the disclosure while pointing out that Francis has been doing amazing things from a tender age.“It is from a tender age him making a name for himself. Even when him was 11 years old he was able to save a baby from a fire,” said the mother, who at the time, was not able to give details of the feat.The performance from the men’s quartet came after sprint sensation Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce secured victory in the women’s 200-metres final.Fraser-Pryce, with a blistering time of 22.17 seconds, secured gold ahead of Ivory Coast’s Murielle Ahoure, and Blessing Okagbare of Nigeria.On Friday scores of Jamaicans celebrated in the streets of Half-Way-Tree to mark the performances.“Yuh nuh si seh di girl (Fraser-Pryce) a star,” said George Shaw, as he and others watched the race from outside the Half-Way-Tree Transport Centre.“Yuh nuh si seh dem cyaan hol’ her, no matter what dem try,” added Shaw, who was wearing a Jamaican flag as a cape.However, it was Francis’ gutsy anchor leg, which caused much delight among the crowd. The Calabar schoolboy ran a blistering leg and fended off a strong challenge by the Russian runner to finish in a season’s best 2:59.88 minutes behind the United States, who ran a world-leading 2:58.71 minutes.“Trust mi, di youth dem neva win [the gold], but the performance was one of sheer guts and determination; mi proud of them,” said St Catherine resident Georgette Douglas, who was on her way to school, but decided to stop and watch the race.Jamaica’s Javon Francis (right) digs deep into his reserves to fend off the challenge of his Russian rival within shades of the winning post, in the final of the men’s 4X400m relay inside the Luzhniki Stadium, on Friday. (PHOTO: GARFIELD ROBINSON)

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Mother knew Francis would deliver

Single mother ekes out living at Sumfest

BY CECELIA CAMPBELL-LIVINGSTON Observer staff reporter livingstonc@jamaicaobserver.com

MONTEGO BAY, St James — For most people, Reggae Sumfest in Catherine Hall is a place to enjoy the best of local and international music. For mother of two Hermine Shaw, however, the event is an opportunity to supplement her income so she can better provide for her children.She has been a staple at the annual three-day festival since its inception in 1993, selling meals from a cook shop. It might not sound like much, but over the years, Shaw has turned over her profits and has managed to expand her business portfolio.“I invested my money in putting a taxi on the road. That way there would always be something coming in,” she said.She has since bought another taxi and her children have now “passed the worst”, but she has no intention of giving up her yearly three-day appointment at Catherine Hall.Speaking to the Jamaica Observer from her stall at the venue last weekend, she said Sumfest has been a blessing.“Every year I pray for them. I pray that they will return to stage the next festival,” she said.“Now that my children are past the worst, they constantly ask me if I would consider giving it up. They say that I work too hard,” said Shaw.But quitting is not an option, not just because of the earning potential, but also because she genuinely enjoys working.With a smile she says her children have now adopted an “if you can’t beat her, join her” attitude as they often assist her in the cook shop.Shaw’s daughter, Nadia Waite, is now a qualified teacher, having attended Montego Bay Teachers’ College. Her 21-year-old son Shamari Sterling, who intends to pursue a career in business, has received an acceptance letter from the University of the West Indies, Western campus.He was with his mother during the most recent staging of Sumfest and spoke with the Observer in-between attending to customers.“I feel proud of her,” he said of his mother. “She likes to help us. She earns her income to send us to school and that’s the main reason I come to help and give her my support.”Hailing from Kingston, Shaw moved to Montego Bay in 1970 where she operated a similar food stall at Reggae Sunsplash. She did it for 18 years, then joined the Sumfest team after its forerunner folded.Things along the way haven’t always been smooth, but Shaw gives thanks every day that she took the decision to invest in the stall when she did. She also praised the music festival’s organisers, who she said were accommodating.“It wasn’t always easy ’cause sometimes it was really rough, but I persisted,” she said of the “ups and downs” of competing with other vendors.A view of Shaw’s cookshop at Reggae Sumfest.Hermine Shaw takes a breather from selling.Hermine Shaw with her son Shamari (left) and grandson.

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Single mother ekes out living at Sumfest

18-month-old found dead beside mother

Latest News

Sunday, August 04, 2013 | 9:27 PM

KINGSTON, Jamaica – Police are Sunday night awaiting post mortem results to determine the cause of death of 18-month-old Joshua Dowe of Mannings Hill Road, Kingston 8 who was found dead at his home earlier in the dayReports are that about 1:00 pm neighbours heard Joshua crying for some time and decided to investigate. His lifeless body was subsequently discovered on a bed in the house in the company of his mother who is said to be mentally challenged. Like our Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/jamaicaobserverFollow us on Twitter https://twitter.com/JamaicaObserver

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18-month-old found dead beside mother