JAMAICA
Loop
The principal of the all-girls Hampton School in St Elizabeth has sought to explain her presence at Wednesday’s bail hearing for the Moravian pastor charged with raping a 15-year-old.
Heather Murray sought to explain herself in a statement issued Thursday as she came under heavy criticism on social media after it was reported that she attended the hearing of 64-year-old Rupert Clarke in the St Elizabeth Parish Court.
“I find it necessary to set the record straight in the matter of my presence at the bail hearing of Rev Rupert Clarke,” Murray said.
“His wife has been my very good friend since we both attended Hampton School in the 1960s/70s. We are both long time educators who have been serving together for many years on several boards, committees and commissions. We are both Justices of the Peace,” she added.
“Such is the closeness of our relationship that when the news broke, I was naturally the first person to whom she turned for solace and support,” the principal added. “I have not left her side since because I know that my friend needs me. She reached out to me as a wife, mother and friend.”
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