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Moravian clergymen to sue as sex scandal deepens
Jamaica Observer
FORMER Moravian Church President Dr Paul Gardner and his deputy, Jermaine Gibson, yesterday instructed their attorney to file a suit for defamation, malicious prosecution and false imprisonment after they were slapped with sex charges in relation to the alleged sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl 14 years ago. Defence attorney Lambert Johnson, who is representing both men, told the Jamaica Observer that the allegations and subsequent arrest are out of “sheer maliciousness and sheer malevolence”. While saying that he could not go into details, Johnson said that the allegations against his clients were riddled with inconsistencies, lacked credibility, cogency and corroboration and that the case was doomed to fail. Gardener, 54, of Burbank Avenue, Kingston 19, and 36-year-old Gibson of Lyndale Close, Kingston 20, were yesterday arrested by the Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offence and Child Abuse (CISOCA) and charged with carnal abuse and indecent assault. According to a report from the Jamaica Constabulary Force’s Corporate Communications Unit, in 2002 Gibson allegedly engaged in a sexual relationship with the girl while he was a minister in the church. It was further reported that two years later Gardener, who was also a minister at the time, also had a sexual relationship with the said girl. The complainant recently went to the police with a report in the wake of allegations against a St Elizabeth Moravian pastor, Rev Rupert Clarke, who the police said they found in “a compromising position” with a 15-year-old girl. Yesterday, Johnson said that his clients have instructed him to file a suit against the complainant and he would be pursuing the matter later on. Both ministers had resigned from their respective posts on January 12, in light of the deepening sex scandal which has rocked the church.
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