Veteran attorney-at-law Miguel Lorne (left) poses with George Phang after he had presented him with a copy of a book on freedom fighter Tacky, in Arnett Gardens last Tuesday evening. (Photo: HG Helps)
George Phang bemoans ‘Tabby Diamond’ missing his birthday party
He would have been still alive today if he had made the 66th celebration, veteran businessman insists
If Donald “Tabby Diamond” Shaw had attended a birthday celebration in Arnett Gardens last Tuesday night he probably would have been alive today, his good friend and party host George Phang believes.
Shaw, 67, former lead vocalist of the legendary Jamaican reggae group The Mighty Diamonds, was shot dead outside his home on McKinley Crescent, deep in the Olympic Gardens community — a stronghold of Prime Minister Andrew Holness, who is Member of Parliament for the encompassing St Andrew West Central constituency.
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Another man was also shot dead in the gun attack, while three others were injured. Police had not released the name of the other deceased individual while this article was being written.
No clear motive was given by police for the murder, although there have been rumblings that the incident may have been an act of reprisal for actions which involved a family member of Shaw.
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Phang — a popular businessman, football administrator, horse racing enthusiast, music producer, and long-time People’s National Party activist — hosted his annual birthday party in the community which saw hundreds of his friends and admirers strolling in from all areas to hail and greet him, and capitalise on what patrons called the “freeing up” of the entertainment sector by Holness during an announcement on the lifting of COVID-19 restrictions in the Jamaican Parliament two weeks before.
But as Phang waited for the one missing link to rejoin the celebratory chain, news of Shaw’s demise slammed against the walls in Arnett Gardens like Russian bombs disfiguring national monuments in adjoining Ukraine.
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“Bwoy, Jah know, star, mi cyaan believe say Tabby gone. Mi talk to di man about three o’clock an him say, ‘George, mi cyaan miss yuh party, because you a one year younger than me, so we muss celebrate’,” Phang said, sharing a portion of the phone conversation he had with Shaw.
Phang said veteran deejay Josey Wales had volunteered earlier that evening to pick Shaw up and take him to the party. But Shaw was not ready when Josey Wales contacted him, and the now fallen reggae star said he would get a ride to the event later that night.
As it turned out, it was the Albany, St Mary-born Josey Wales — an entertainer with 50 years’ experience under his belt — who broke the news to Phang. It immediately put a damper on the celebrations being attended by prominent Jamaicans from various sectors, among them entertainment, politics, business, sports, academia, and more.
“Is like him ready and waiting on somebody to come and pick him up and that happened. I know him for whole heap a years, and all this time we always have a good relationship,” Phang said.
“When Josey Wales come tell me say, ‘Bwoy, mi a go tell you something yuh nuh waa hear,’ Jah Jah, me a tell yuh man, it hit me hard. Whole heap a man when them hear it, it just lick them up. People like the same Colonel (Josey Wales), Admiral Bailey, Tristan Palmer, Charlie Chaplin, Tarrus Riley, Linval Thompson, Little John, George Nooks, Burro Banton, Peter Metro, King Kong …it just sad, breda. Mi feel it to mi heart. Weh them likkle bwoy come kill the big man.
“He was one of the quietest people that I know. He was a man who would sit down here beside you and say nothing, Jah know! He made some dub plates for my sound (Schoolboy Movement), and he made a dub plate about two weeks ago for me, with him and Josey Wales inna combination.
“It’s a sad thing. When a man sick and dead you can see through it, because none a wi nuh come ya fi turn rock stone, but when a man tek a man life … shorten a man life, it’s painful, and for no reason, as far as mi hear,” Phang lamented.
“I am just sorry that him never mek it to the party, because him woulda alive now,” Phang reasoned.
The St Andrew South Police, which are leading the investigations into Shaw’s death, said up to Friday it had made no arrest tied to the homicide committed with the use of guns that continues to stain Jamaica’s image.
Up to Saturday, overseas-based journalists had contacted at least two of their Jamaican colleagues seeking updated information on Shaw’s death, and posing questions regarding the root cause of crime and violence in Jamaica, focusing heavily on murders.
There remains a tense atmosphere in sections of St Andrew West Central, as rival gangs trade blows, and scalps, over turf and other reasons. On Wednesday a man was shot dead along Olympic Way, close to Wint Road, by a gunman who had walked up to him while he was talking with a friend. The friend, who was also shot, remained in hospital up to Saturday. Police have ruled out that shooting as a reprisal, but residents suggest otherwise.
St Andrew West Central was known as Jamaica’s main killing field during the bloody 1980 General Election campaign, with more than 200 people either being murdered there, or slain elsewhere and their bodies dumped in the constituency, making it the bloodiest of the 60 in the House of Representatives at that time. Then, the clashes involved supporters of Ferdinand Yap, called Yappists, of the then Opposition Jamaica Labour Party, and those of then ruling People’s National Party incumbent Carl “Russian” Thompson.
Both men are now deceased.
Police statistics at the time showed that 844 people died because of political violence in 1980. Overall murders for that year headed past 900.
Late Friday, it emerged that Shaw’s colleague, Fitzroy “Bunny Diamond” Simpson, died in hospital earlier in the day after complaining of feeling unwell. Simpson had suffered a mild stroke in 2017, and had contracted COVID-19, friends close to him said.
Suggestions that he had suffered another stroke which caused his death could not be confirmed up to Saturday.
Lloyd “Judge” Ferguson is the surviving member of The Mighty Diamonds which was formed in 1969, recorded 30 albums and scored number one with some huge hit songs, perhaps the most popular of them being I Need a Roof, Heads of Government, and Pass The Kutchie.
PHANG… shocked by Tabby Diamond’s death while he hosted his birthday party in Arnett Gardens lastTuesday. (Photo: Joseph Wellington)
Member of Parliament for Kingston Eastern and Port Royal PhillipPaulwell (right) showers praise on birthday celebrant George Phang.
Donald “Tabby Diamond” Shaw who was shot dead last Tuesday.
Fitzroy “BunnyDiamond” Simpson ofThe Mighty Diamonds(Photo: Karl Mclarty)
Justice of the Peace Marlene Rodriques-Rowe consoles Evadney Hemry, dear friend of Donald “Tabby Diamond” Shaw of The Mighty Diamonds, after the singer was killed last Tuesday night on McKinley Crescent in St Andrew.(Photo: Naphtali Junior)
