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Fantan Mojah GUILTY - "No man is perfect...," singer tells court

By ADRIAN FRATER and MELISSA CHARLEY, STAR Writers

WESTERN BUREAU

AN APOLOGETIC FANTAN Mojah yesterday pleaded guilty in the Savanna-la-Mar Resident Magistrate's Court for the expletives he used during his performance at the Western Consciousness 2005 show in Westmoreland early Sunday morning.

When he appeared in court, the burly entertainer, whose real name is Owen Moncrieffe, told the court, "mi guilty but mi sorry. I was coming from another show that had a lot of hype." He was subsequently fined $1000 with an alternative of 10 days in jail.

After exiting the court and paying the fine at the court office, the singer, who hails from neighbouring St. Elizabeth, spoke to THE STAR and again accepted guilt before pleading for the understanding of the fans, promoters and sponsors.

"No man is perfect... the words just slipped out of my mouth. I want to apologise to my fans, the sponsors and the promoter, Mr. Worrell King," the singer said in a sincere tone. "I just want to say more love to everyone."

Bottle-throwing

On Sunday morning the annual event was brought to an abrupt end after a bottle-throwing incident which was said to have been sparked by problems that developed on stage during Mojah's performance.

"I would like to work on the show again next year and show the fans the real Fantan Mojah," he said while pleading for a chance to make amends. The singer said that his outburst was on account of being allowed to work for just five minutes instead of the fifteen minutes for which he was booked.

Fantan Mojah had appeared on-stage after performances from the likes of Beres Hammond and Wayne Wonder. He started off his set on a bad note by unleashing two expletives in a lyrical assault on homosexuals. Shortly after, when the organiser sought to end his performance in compliance with the grace period that the police had allowed, he shouted that he was being sabotaged.

Seemingly frustrated by the efforts to end the show without him getting his allotted time, he continued; "people unoo nuh se unoo nah get unoo money's worth." A hail of bottles hit the stage immediately after and the event was brought to an end.