THE SPANKING NEW 2004 Chevrolet Aveo priced at $1,050,000 and advertised as the gate prize at the 2003 staging of Magnum Sting instead became one of the damaged goods at the historic event.

The car was expected to be handed over to a lucky patron at the Boxing Day staged show, however a bottle-throwing meleé forced an untimely end to the event.

Nigel Pagon, the chief executive officer of GM Challenger, the company that donated the car, estimated that the repair costs for the vehicle were approximately $150,000. He pointed out that the windshield, bonnet and trunk will have to be replaced and there are dents in the roof plus all four doors were damaged.

"Considering that.. the entire car would have to be re-sprayed," said Mr. Pagon.

Currently the car is sitting idly on the GM Challenger's lot at 26 Molynes Road, Kingston 10, instead of being parked in the driveway of a patron.

Mr. Pagon says he was at Jam World, the venue for Sting's staging, up until the dispute between Ninja Man and Vybz Kartel got under way.

"I was there up until the most ridiculous thing that I have ever seen in the history of Jamaican entertainment (unfolded). I attended the show with my kids and at that point we left the venue."

While it probably would not have stopped the vehicle from being damaged, Mr. Pagon said he thought the car should have been handed over earlier during one of the band changes. Pagon said that after he arrived in Kingston at 6 a.m. he got a call from one of his staff members who informed him that "all hell broke loose and the car was severely damaged."

Well, GM Challenger fulfilled their contractual obligation by having the car at the show. "The car was present at Sting right beside the stage. Well branded and all with the anticipation that I would have handed it over to one lucky patron," stressed Mr. Pagon.

Won't accept repair costs

However, the car was not handed over as it was advertised and GM Challenger says they will not bear the burden of the repair costs. "The car is parked here until the organizers come and pick it up, but we will not undertake to do any repairs until we get approval from the organizers," said Pagon firmly.

When The STAR spoke to Isiah Laing, head of Supreme Promotions, who sounded as if he had a tonne on each shoulder, he said that as it concerns the repair of the car, his team would stand still until they received some legal advice.

"I don't know what we are going to do yet, honestly. I want to talk to my lawyer and let him advise us," said Laing.

Additionally, Laing revealed that even if the car was repaired, there still would be roadblocks, as all the ticket stubs are not in their possession. "We have some but the others are destroyed and that would not be fair to everybody," Laing stated.

Barbara Lee, the executive director of the Fair Trading Commission, says justice would not be served if Supreme Promotions were held as the party that would have to face the music. "I don't know if we would want to fix the promoters with the responsibility for hooligans who came and destroyed the car," she said.

She added: "That's not fair to the promoters and we have to be fair to all sides."