On Friday, May 18, 2023, a Kingston pastor/principal convicted for raping his receptionist/teacher on the job in 2014 wept after Supreme Court judge Justice Annmarie Lawrence Grainger handed him a 15-year and one-month sentence.

The Court withheld the pastor’s identity and the school’s to protect the victim’s identity. The judge ordered the convict to serve 12 years before being eligible for parole.

The Court had found the pastor guilty in early April, following an eight-day trial which began on March 22 before a judge and jury.

In the allegations outlined by the prosecution, the complainant, who was 24 years of age at the time of the incident, met the pastor/principal who headed a small educational institution in the Corporate Area while on a job hunt.

According to the woman, she went to his school to make inquiries on a day in 2013 and was made an offer by him the same day to come on board as a receptionist/teacher.

She told the Court that on a day in January 2014, while she was at work, her employer, who is a married man and who had made several advances to her, dragged her into the kitchen at the premises and had sexual intercourse with her without her permission and a condom.

The pastor/principal, in an unsworn statement from the dock, however, denied that he raped the woman and maintained that he had sexual intercourse with her, but with her permission.

A character witness for the pastor/principal said she “knew him for many years, and he was a stern man.”

Friday, the convicted man, during the sentencing address by the judge, was highly emotional, calling upon God throughout, while his victim looked on teary-eyed.

 In outlining the aggravating factors, the judge said the convicted felon had, among other things, abused his position of trust as the young woman’s employer.

Thugs killed an unidentified man at a funeral at Meadowrest.

ST CATHERINE, Jamaica – Gunmen shot and killed an unidentified male during a funeral held on Friday afternoon, May 19, 2023, at Meadowrest Memorial Gardens in Spanish Town, St Catherine.

According to the police, the deceased was attending the funeral service of one Randy Shaw when unknown assailants opened gunfire, hitting him multiple times in the head and upper body.

The police transported the injured man to the Spanish Town Hospital, where he was confirmed dead.

The police described the body of the unidentified male as of a dark complexion, about 5 ft 9 inches tall, and slim built. The male wore a blue shirt, blue jeans, blue underwear, and a camouflage Desert Clarks boot. The man appeared to be in his mid-30s.