DANCEHALL DEEJAY Ninja Man (Desmond Ballentine) was arrested yesterday by the St. Mary police on sexual assault charges and has been remanded in custody.
The Constabulary Communication Network (CCN) said yesterday that the deejay
was arrested at about 10 a.m. yesterday when he handed himself over to the Port
Maria police. He was subsequently charged and brought before the Annotto Bay
Resident Magistrate's Court, where he was remanded in custody. He is scheduled
to reappear in court on Tuesday, January 14. The Port Maria police are investigating
the case.
Ninja Man on December 26 handed over an illegal Glock semi-automatic pistol and cartridges to Senior Supt. Reneto Adams, head of the Crime Management Unit (CMU), at the 'Sting' reggae concert at Jamworld, Portmore, St. Catherine. Since then, there have been concerns expressed as to why he had not been arrested, as he was wanted by the St. Mary police on the sexual assault charges.
He said during a television interview on the weekend that he would be going to the police in St. Mary on Monday to resolve the issue. A warrant had been out for his arrest, since November 26, arising from the alleged sexual assault of a teenaged girl in St. Mary who, the police say, is a relative of his. But, when The Gleaner contacted the Criminal Investigative Branch in St. Mary on Monday, Det. Sgt. Moore said that Ninja Man had not shown up, and that they were still in search of him.
In an interview carried in the STAR yesterday, he denied that he was wanted. However, the CCN confirmed that a warrant had been circulated throughout the police force for his arrest.
In another development regarding his handing over of the Glock pistol at "Sting" on December 26, Commissioner of Police Francis Forbes has said that he was made aware, prior to the show, that a gun would have been handed over to the police on-stage, as a gesture supporting the handing in of illegal guns, but he said that he had not expected that it would be a real gun.
Commissioner Forbes said that he had been briefed on the gesture by a senior police officer, but that he would not have condoned the use of a real gun, considering the danger of having a loaded gun at an event with so many people.
