Women Groups In Britain Succeed in Banning Jah Cure

"Jah Cure has been released early from prison to tour and make millions. He is able to move on with his life.

Who cares about the young woman he raped? How does she ever recover from her ordeal?" said Paulette Coombs (victim of a rape attack in Jamaica in the Nineties ), in her interview with The Voice, the newspaper for Britain's black community.

Campaigner Paulette Coombs has urged people to protest outside Jah Cure's tour venues, while others have demanded he donates some of the millions of pounds he is expected to make from his music to rape victims' charities. The victim, Suzanne Ferguson, who waived her anonymity to speak out after she heard Cure was due for release, told the Jamaican press last year: 'Every time there is a lot of publicity about Jah Cure, I have even more flashbacks.

'Sometimes I am so afraid to leave my house. It seems to me that entertainers are more valued than everybody else in Jamaica and, as a woman, I feel seriously undervalued.' She has claimed she was offered money by Cure's supporters to retract her claims.

But other women's groups are reluctant to join the protest. 'Jah Cure was not convicted by a jury and there were serious doubts about his conviction,' said Cristel Amiss, coordinator of the Black Women's Rape Action Project, based in north London. 'He has served eight years in prison.

Those who call for a boycott of his tour are losing sight of the real issue, which is that only about 5.6 per cent of reported rapes result in a conviction. They are helping to perpetuate the myth of the rapist as a dark stranger.'

Jah Cure has declined to talk about the rape since his release, but his website insists that he wants his fans to know the two words most important to him are 'not guilty'. 'People can do their research, they know my side,' he told one interviewer.

In response to Jah Cures ban from Britain Elsa Hill of Justice for Women said: "He makes a point of saying he is innocent but if he came here this would be another string to the bow of men's groups who say women are responsible for making malicious allegations of rape."

But Jah Cure's supporters will point out that no DNA evidence was obtained linking him to the crime. There are also concerns about the nature of his arrest: he was picked out by the victim on the street and was held without charge for a week.

At his trial. Ferguson told how she had memorised Cure's car licence plate, which enabled police to track him down. 'I was able to identify him because his voice was distinct. Anywhere I hear that voice, I will always remember it.'

SOURCE:The Obsever

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