The Tribune

By FARAH RUMOURS that Vybz Kartel and several other inmates escaped New Horizon Adult Remand Centre after holding guards hostage at gunpoint were debunked by Jamaican police officials last week. Kartel along with several other inmates were said to have stolen uniforms and a vehicle belonging to Jamaica's Department of Correctional Services before the escape on November 30 at 1am, according to the Jamaica Observer. It was also rumoured that a guard died from heart attack and 12 other inmates were injured. Police officials also confirmed those incidents did not occur. Kartel, whose real name is Adidjah Palmer, has performed in the Bahamas on several occasions. The rumours exploded on the internet and social networking sites last week. Police told the Observer the rumours could be an attempt by Kartel's posse to keep him in the headlines. "It may be an attempt by his cronies to keep him in the news but they don't need to spread rumours to do that because he will be in the news for quite some time," one cop told the Observer. Bahamian fans of the artist responded to the rumoured escape online. "We slowly watching this man destroy his life and all the money in the world can't save his soul. Its been proven too many time with these stars," one commenter said. "If he did escape they wouldn't be able to find him. He bleach his face and wearing weave, he would have changed his nose and that it's no more Kartel." "Where Vybz think he was going? All they had to do was look for a walking zombie and they gat him," said a Bahamian fan. Kartel was refused bail when he appeared in the Gun Court Division of the Corporate Area Resident Magistrate's Court on November 2. He was seeking bail in relation to charges of murder in the case of Barrington 'Bossie' Bryan. Bryan was shot in Gregory Park, St Catherine, Jamaica earlier this year. Police found the decomposed body of Bryan after conducting a search on several of Kartel's properties, one in the Kingston Norbook community and another on Swallowfield Avenue in Kingston's Havendale area. Kartel is also being charged for a separate murder in August and is being investigated in connection with "a number of murders, shootings and gunrunning," according to the Washington Post.