MoBay’s Qahal Yahweh church members’ case to continue November 22
by Christopher Thomas/Gleaner Writer · The GleanerWESTERN BUREAU:
The ongoing trial of the 16 members of the controversial Montego Bay-based Qahal Yahweh religious group, who are charged with breaching the Child Care and Protection Act and the Education Act, was adjourned to November 22 due to their lawyer’s inability to proceed this past Friday.
Omar Thompson, Jevaughn Thompson, Christopher Anderson, Nekeisha Harding, Derrick Clarke, Alicia Meadley, Fabian Nelson, Franchain Paris, Jodian Spence, Jose Foskin, Oral Spence, Rayon Letman, Ingrid Williams, Vera Woolery, Roanalee Maitland, and Melisha Thompson all had their bails extended by presiding judge Kaysha Grant-Pryce when they appeared in the St James Parish Court.
“The matter was adjourned to November 22 as I was unable to continue the matter today,” attorney-at-law Peter Champagnie, who is representing the 16 defendants, told The Gleaner yesterday, without divulging any specifics.
The 16 defendants were arrested and charged following a police raid on the Norwood-based Qahal Yahweh compound, in St James, on June 30, 2023. That raid followed a previous raid on the church on June 7, when 23 children, ages one to 17 years, were removed from the facility and subsequently placed in state care.
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The children were later released from state care on November 17, 2023. Some were released to their parents while others were sent to other relatives.
Since the defendants’ trial began on April 8 this year, the court was told in testimony from three prosecution witnesses, including two officers from the Child Protection and Family Services Agency (CPFSA) and a former Qahal Yahweh member, about the state of affairs at the compound at the time of the raid.
During the two officers’ evidence-in-chief on April 8, one of the officers testified that during the June 7, 2023 raid at the Qahal Yahweh premises, the location had a smell of rotting food, there was dirty clothing in various rooms, and the children at the site were unclean and appeared malnourished. The other officer testified to receiving several of the children’s birth certificates from persons at the compound, including a birth certificate supplied by defendant Franchain Paris.
The former Qahal Yahweh member testified on July 26 this year about the living conditions at the compound prior to the June 7, 2023 raid, and described how her family and two other families shared a room at the premises.
The Qahal Yahweh church previously came into the spotlight in 2019, when the police removed six children, including a pregnant 16-year-old, from the group’s compound between October 31 and November 5 that year. At that time, the religious group was under investigation in relation to allegations that their members were conducting child marriages, as well as being involved in human trafficking, abduction, child abuse and sexual assault.