MoBay religious leader still in custody as some congregants facing DRMA charges released

 

The majority of the 40 congregants from Pathways International Kingdom Restoration Ministries of Montego Bay, St. James, who were detained following Sunday's deadly incident, have been released after being charged under the Disaster Risk Management Act.

 

The 30 women and ten men, including the leader of the church, were charged for being out on a no-movement day.

 

The pastor of the church is among ten people still in custody.

 

Radio Jamaica News was informed that the service pistol of a female member of the Jamaica Constabulary Force, who reportedly opened fire on the police when they swarmed the compound on Sunday night, was seized for ballistic testing.

 

Investigators are still collecting statements to determine the persons who should be charged with the killing of two congregants as part of a ritual.

 

In an update to Radio Jamaica News on Tuesday afternoon, Assistant Commissioner Clifford Chambers, head of Area One police headquarters, said the congregants are cooperating with investigators and have provided statements. 

 

ACP Chambers said the leader of the church is being investigated for several offences. 

 

However, he was tightlipped on the details, only saying the police were "waiting on investigators to put the case file in a more cogent way before we speak to the charges that he will be facing". 

                                

 

Dennis Brooks, Senior Communications Strategist for the Jamaica Constabulary Force, has said based on information received, the radicalisation of the leaders of the Pathways International religious group, occurred in the last few months. 

 

"By all indications of what persons have been saying, the church has not always been this way and as a result, the organisation has a strong membership in St. James. There have been things that have been said in recent weeks, in recent months. There has been possibly a shift in the church's doctrine or such, and it has been a cause for concern...and Sunday night it came to a horrific end."

 

Mr. Brooks would not confirm claims that the ritual was linked to the COVID-19 vaccine, however, he said he suspected "that might have been an issue for the leadership". 

 

Mr. Brooks, who was a guest Tuesday on the Morning Agenda on Power 106, disclosed that 144 congregants were summoned to the church from as early as Friday in preparation for a special service on Sunday based on end of time teachings.

 

He said the public should hear over the next few days the activities that were taking place at the church as part of a ritual preparation for the departure of an "ark".

 

The ark referenced is similar to the one built by Noah in the Bible, in which he saved his family and two of every kind of animal from a flood.