During Popcaan’s day in court over the incident that took place at the Unruly Fest last December, the artiste, contrary to his ‘unruly’ moniker, acted with utmost decorum when he took the stand.

The artiste, whose real name is Andrae Sutherland, on Wednesday (January 10), elected to waste none of the court’s time and pleaded guilty to four of the five charges that were brought against him, ordered to pay a fine, and left the courtroom without incident.

However, upon arrival at the St Thomas Parish Court in Morant Bay to cover the trial, I witnessed a heavily armed police presence and heights of unprofessionalism from the police officers present.

Journalists were instructed by a deputy superintendent that, “no media personnel would be allowed inside the courtroom,” despite the case being a public hearing.

A journalist from another news house expressed that he was barred from returning to the courtroom by the police who cited Judge Sanchia Burrell, as instructing the order.

A third-party attorney-at-law who later arrived on the scene clarified that he knows the Judge and is certain that the police officer either lied or as he eloquently put it, “misunderstood any directive he may have received.”

After assistance from the lawyers present, the media were told they would be allowed into the court to complete their job on the condition that no phones or recording equipment could be brought into the courtroom and if any were found in use, they would be confiscated.

When the fifth charge of breach of the Noise Abatement Act was called against Sutherland, his defence team raised that his name was not the name on the permit in question. The permit named an unidentified Mr. Burke, and the defence proceeded to clarify that Sutherland was present at Unruly Fest as a performer, much to the chagrin of the prosecution.

For this legal embarrassment to occur during a trial, there needed to be multiple failures leading up to the event.

Blunder 1: The police either did not review, did not possess, or ignored the actual permit but proceeded to charge the artiste.

Blunder 2: At the time of the trial there was no review if there were multiple permits or supporting documents that the artiste may have signed.

Blunder 3: Questions were left open about the identity of ‘Mr. Burke’

Blunder 4: The Clerk of Court failed to confirm whether the permit was in Andrae Sutherland’s name before proceeding with the case.

READ: WATCH | Popcaan pleads guilty to four of five charges over Unruly Fest breaches

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(Reporting by: Shemar-Leslie Louisy and Shari-Lee Crooks)