Dancehall Singer Serani Robbed In St. Croix

Jamaican reggae artist Craig "Serani" Marsh - a member of the hit-making trio Daseca - was robbed early Monday at gunpoint in his Christiansted hotel room about an hour after his performance at the Crucian Christmas Festival Village, police said.

Marsh was robbed by two masked men of just more than $10,000 in cash, including money he had been paid for the Festival performance and an earlier show on St. Thomas, and about $5,000 in jewelry, police said.

Police Chief Oakland Benta said no one was injured in the robbery at Best Western Hotel on Strand Street.
Marsh called emergency dispatchers at 12:40 a.m. Monday morning to report the robbery.

Benta said Marsh told investigators that as he and another person were opening his hotel room that the masked gunmen barged into the room and robbed them.

No arrests have been made, but police are investigating a number of possible leads, Benta said.

Serani has been making hit songs for a number of years and has been responsible for a number of noted reggae rhythms. He lent his vocal skills to a number of hits for other big-name reggae artists such as Elephant Man, Sean Paul and Tony Matterhorn.

Festival president Davidson Charlemagne said that while Serani had performed in the Festival Village, Serani was not contracted by the Festival committee. He said the artist missed a performance scheduled by TS and ODC Promotions last weekend and the promoters asked the Festival Committee to use him.

"We saw it as a good thing for booth owners, the promoter and the community, but we were not involved other than allowing them to use the Village for a performance," Charlamagne said.

The Reggae News Agency

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