The Church in Jamaica has been thrown into further disarray, with news that another man of the cloth has been arrested and charged by the police with a s*xual offence against a minor.Host pastor of the Bunker’s Hill New Testament Church of God in Trelawny, Presley Smith will face the Falmouth Parish Court later this week, after he was arrested and charged on Friday with acts of s*xual offences.
Allegations are that between January 2016 and January of this year, Smith, 27, a native of Kingston but who currently lives in this rural Trelawny community, committed a number of s*xual offences against a 15-year-old male student who hails from the district and is now residing in Montego Bay, St James.
Investigators have said that Smith turned himself in at the Centre for the Investigation of S*xual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA) in Kingston on May 3 and was later transferred to Falmouth, where he was subsequently slapped with charges of buggery, gross indecency, and grievous s*xual assault.
A senior police officer who is close to the investigations told the Jamaica Observer yesterday that the alleged acts were committed at the pastor’s rented house in the Bunker’s Hill community.
He added that the matter was reported to the offices of CISOCA in Montego Bay after the boy’s parents saw “certain materials” on his laptop computer in April of this year.
“In April, the boy’s parents saw certain material on his laptop and reported it to CISOCA in Montego Bay, and the pastor was later interviewed there,” said the investigator.
Meanwhile, as news of the pastor’s arrest circulated in Bunker’s Hill yesterday, residents expressed shock at the allegations.
“It’s kind of hard to believe. Pastor Smith is a disciplinarian and a no-nonsense person,” said an area resident, noting that Smith has been pastor of the church for more than two years.
She added that pastor was “extremely involved” in church activities, very jovial, and was always neatly dressed.
“I really don’t know how his name would be calling up in that sort of thing. He was a good actor, he writes very well, and always trying to motivate people,” said the resident.
According to her, the pastor earlier this year proposed to a woman and was planning to get married in August.
The Church has been thrown against the wall of shame in recent months, following the arrest of some high- and low-profile officials on s*x-related charges across Jamaica.
Moravian Pastor Rupert Clarke, 64, is facing charges of rape and carnal abuse after police said that they found him in a “compromising position” with a girl, aged 15, in his motor car near the sleepy town of Nain in south-east St Elizabeth on December 28.
Clarke had been pastor of the Nazareth Moravian Church in Manchester.
Three weeks after Clarke was arrested, police also slapped carnal abuse and indecent assault charges on President of the Moravian Church in Jamaica, Dr Paul Gardner, and his deputy Jermaine Gibson. Both later resigned their positions in the Church. Like Clarke, both Gardner and Gibson have maintained their innocence and their lawyers have sounded notes of confidence that they will be cleared of the charges when their matters come up for trial in court.
In mid-March, Pentecostal Pastor R V Paul Hanniford was found guilty of having s*xual intercourse with a minor and sentenced to 20 years in prison.
A jury of seven returned a unanimous guilty verdict after spending just an hour and 20 minutes to go over the evidence in the case.
The Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions (ODPP)said at the trial that the s*xual offence had been committed on the girl when she was 13 years old. She, like Hanniford, was a member of the Pentecostal City Mission Church and was baptised by him, the court was told.
Evidence was presented that Hanniford drove the complainant and her brother, aged five at the time, to his house at the end of choir practice, where the act was committed.
It is uncertain how the Church community will view the latest allegations against one of its members at a time when more fingers are being pointed at clergymen for irregular conduct.
— Additional reporting by Sunday Observer staff
A wah cudda cause all a diss? Mi sey it bun mi fi di nasty dutty people dem yu si. Bout dem nuh believe, one a dem sey the Pastor is a good actor, writer blah, blah…Dem nuh si sey a act him a act when him a pretend sey him decent an dey pan di straight an narrow. Yes God, reveal dem one, one!
aah bwaaii…smh
That’s why mi keep church a mi yaad.mi a pastor, usher, deacon Everyting in a one…caan trust dem man, bout dem a preach, preach what? An a mess wid ppl pickney.dat nuh right!
This supports my comment I gave earlier…there is a sick hidden group in Jamaica including in the church, entertainment and other industries, that sexually exploit these young, underage boys.
Everyone pretending no say, not in JA,, then they hold dem head and bawl when w find them by the hundreds living in dirty, unsafe gullies.
It is time Jamaica come clean and create a sexual abuse hotline for boys and young males as well as increase their social services to help and rescue the exploited.
Lock him up. Keep him there. Too many of these bastards hide unde the false name of the cloth.
The church is full of broken ppl. It welcomes the dregs of society with the hope of redemption, so nobody fi shocked when deze ppl go back to their old ways. When the guilt and burden of the wickedness that some have done is too much to bear any longer they seek religion which is a panacea for their broken souls. However, the drug of chrchdome eventually wears off and they do go back to their old ways at some point. They worst among us fill the prisons and the churches. Even the great murderer and torturer, Paul, had a ministry and the so-called sane are quoting his words because it is written in a book. Church is for the wicked so they can ease their souls with the hope of forgiveness and getting an express pass to escape hell.
Dutty buddy pastor.
Every Saturday and Sunday former pastors fi get gang rape a prison. Poetic justice
“always neatly dressed” number one sign of a battyman
Him favor mi dog weh mi did have a Jamaica name “Bringle” move Bringle move… Dutty nastiness
we strongly condemned the abuse of women and children to the point that the punishment ought to be mandatory capital!ONe man is not to be blamed for this heinous act….blame the enablers in that community esp the congregation who ignored tell tale signs!
I certainly was molested in church. Mi Nuh trust church man or ja man round mi pickney dem none a tall.
Wooooiiiii ah weak !!! Nearly pee me self
” Move Bringle , move / ” him favor mi dog name Bringle
@Needleeye101 I love it, comment of the year!
– I think Bringle way better than this nastiness.