JAMAICA: Woman says she was nearly sacrificed

STAR: A female member of the Pathway International Kingdom Church in Paradise, St James, says she was just minutes away from being offered as a human sacrifice before the ritual was disrupted by frightened members.

The woman, whose identity will not be disclosed, told THE STAR that she has been a member of the church for more than a year, and was contacted last Saturday and informed that she was to dress in white garments and prepare to be cleansed. She said that she was told that this was in preparation for travel on an ark, which would be leaving the compound at 9:30 a.m. Monday.

“I thought the terms that those who are cleansed would be received on the ark was just a biblical term and I never dreamt that it was actually our leader taking our lives through sacrifice,” she said. “When we come to church on Sunday afternoon, pastor and some leaders gathered round and we were called up one by one, while pastor performed a ritual. Him seh the ritual was to decide who was worthy to go on the ark.” The ‘chosen’ were separated from others who needed to be ‘cleansed’.

“Everybody frighten when him (one of the pastor’s ‘lieutenants’) cut the first lady throat. Then him move to a man in front a mi, an cut him throat too,” she said. “Mi nearly drop down, and mi start pee-pee up myself when him walk over to mi, because mi see what him just do to the two people them. Pastor then go to a man who just come out of hospital and still have some tube inna him, but pastor pull them out, and blood start splash all over the place.” She said that persons started running frantically and one of the pastor’s lieutenants brandished a shotgun and fired. Some members tried to block people in who were trying to leave.

SEE PASTOR WID A GUN

“Then mi see pastor wid a gun a fire a gun inna the crowd,” she said. The woman said that she was one of the first persons who managed to escape.

“At one point mi see pastor a come towards mi, but mi manage fi run and jump over one wall and run over one man yard. A him mi beg a call and call mi mother and dem come pick mi up dung the road,” the woman told THE STAR. “Up to now mi cah believe how close mi come fi dead lef mi little daughter.”

The woman said that she would never return to the church if it reopened and was shocked at the actions of the pastor, who she said even has followers who in prestigious jobs. One police source told THE STAR that they were made aware of the incident after a woman turned up at the Cornwall Regional Hospital and told the doctors that she had been shot on the compound while a ritual was being performed.

The doctor then contacted the police and several officers were immediately deployed. They had to force their way inside the compound and were attacked by some of the church members who were armed with machetes, knives and stones. One man, identified as 18-year-old Kevaun Plummer, of a Bogue address in St James, was fatally shot after allegedly attacking the cops with a knife. After bringing the group under control, the lawmen arrested the pastor and other members. Thirty-five other members were also taken into custody for breaching the Disaster Risk Management Act. The senior cop stated that the man who reportedly came from hospital to be cleansed, was discovered suffering from stab and gunshot wounds. He has been admitted in serious condition.

Director of complaints at the Independent Commission of Investigations’ western region, Errol Chattoo, said that it is conducting a full probe into the entire incident.

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