Incarcerated dancehall deejay Zebra (real name - Garfield Vassell), is likely to be released from prison next Tuesday (September 9), after serving 7 years of a c****ined 10 year sentence for rape, assault at common-law, indecent assault and breaching a probation order. The sentences had stemmed from three incidents: 1) the fondling and attempted rape of a 15-year-old girl in October 2000, 2) the rape of an 18-year-old university student in January 2001 and 3) assaulting and beating his then girlfriend during an argument.

Zebra burst on the scene in 1992 as a Tiger soundalike with the hit song Weh Yu Run Fah. He disappeared from the dancehall scene for a few years, then returned in the late 1990s with a string of hits including Unfair Yuh Know on the Street Sweeper riddim, Selassie Warning on the Bada Bada riddim, Rupert, Hype Love, Picture Frame and Redder Than Red.

While incarcerated at the Tower Street Adult Correctional Centre in Downtown Kingston, he has played an active role in the institutions music rehabilitation programme (which seeks to make the reformation process easier through the use of music).

A Welcome Back Zebra is reportedly being planned by friends in Ellerslie Pen in St. Catherine, Zebras home community.