Feb 1 Court Date for Moravian Clergymen

Jamaica Observer
January 26, 2017

http://www.jamaicaobserver.com/news/Feb-1-court-date-for-Moravian-clergymen_87546

FORMER Moravian Church President Dr Paul Gardner and his deputy, Jermaine Gibson, who were on Monday charged with carnal abuse and indecent assault, are set to appear in court on February 1.

Head of the Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offence and Child Abuse (CISOCA) Superintendent Enid Ross confirmed the court date on Tuesday. The two are to appear in the Manchester Parish Court.

The sex charges were reportedly laid against the clergymen in relation to the alleged sexual assault of a 12-year-old girl years ago.

Both men are currently on bail.

The arrest and charge of the clergymen came on the heels of Rev Rupert Clarke’s arrest. Clarke, a pastor of the Nazareth Moravian Church in Manchester, is now before the court after he was allegedly caught in a “compromising position” with a minor in St Elizabeth, last month.

Defence attorney Lambert Johnson, who is representing both Gardner and Gibson, told the Jamaica Observer Monday that the allegations and subsequent arrest are out of “sheer maliciousness and sheer malevolence”.

He also said his clients have instructed him to file a suit for defamation, malicious prosecution and false imprisonment.