Pastor arrested during church service

A church service was interrupted on Sunday following the arrest of the pastor for allegedly having sex with a 13-year-old girl.

A church member, who did not wish to be named, said the congregation was in the middle of a service when the mayhem started.

"We were praying and I saw two officers come to the church door. He (the pastor) was praying at the alter, so the police told one of the ushers to go and call him," the member said.

The members of the church are now under scrutiny from community members since the young pastor's arrest, according to the member.

Another member said that she is afraid to leave her home because of the backlash that she is receiving.

"Everything happened so fast and the church just stopped immediately," said the member. "Dem a tell him seh him must stop talk to that little girl, enuh, and him never did a listen."

THE STAR learnt that the pastor took the young child out on numerous occasions and even though he was pressed by members of the church to desist from the action, he still continued.

"There were times when he would often be in conflict with the church. One time he even took the child out for her birthday to Carib, and the church was really upset about it," the member said.

Head of the Centre for Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse (CISOCA), Superintendent Charmaine Shand, confirmed that the pastor was taken into custody for the offence of having sexual intercourse with a person under the age of 16.

Up to press time, he had not been charged.

Reports from CISOCA are that the suspect was contacted by the minor, who told him that she was locked out of school sometime last week.

Shand said that from reports the pastor picked the child up in Half-Way Tree and took her to a house where he had sex with her.

The man, whose name is being withheld pending further investigations, is being questioned in relation to this incident and another involving another minor.