JAMAICA | Pastor's attorneys demand answers surrounding his death

KINGSTON, October 26, 2021 - In the wake of the death of  the controversial leader of Pathways International Kingdom Restoration Ministries, Kevin Smith, in a fiery motor vehicle crash on the Bog Walk bypass in St. Catherine, his Attorney Valerie Neita-Roberston is demanding answers from the police.

The attorney who says she is now acting on behalf of Mr. Smith's family told Radio Jamaica on Monday afternoon, that neither she nor her co-attorney in the matter Henry McCurdy, had been informed by the police that Smith was being transferred from St. James to Kingston.

She said they realized that something was up when they tried in vain to get in touch with Smith who was in the custody of the Montego Bay By Police since he was held last Monday without being charged. 

Mrs. Neita-Roberston said prior to the pastor's removal from St. James, she was kept in the dark on his whereabouts. She said Mr. Smith was questioned by detectives on Saturday and he later asked to be taken to the doctor as he was feeling pain in his leg. However, when his other attorney, Henry McCurdy sought to contact him on Monday, he was informed Mr. Smith had been moved.

"Why didn't they take him before the parish court in the jurisdiction where the alleged offences were committed, and then there now, they could ask for the voluntary bill to send it to the circuit court in the parish? Why are they carrying him to Kingston” ?

Mrs Neita-Robertson, a Queen's Counsel explained that “Any application to move the jurisdiction, I have to participate in that. They have to inform me, you have to file an affidavit to say why you want it moved out of the parish of St. James”! 

"Everything that is happening is very curious and certainly not what usually happens and the family is concerned about it, so I'm now acting for the estate," she added. 

Mrs. Neita-Robertson said Mr. Smith's family intends to hire an independent pathologist for the autopsy.

Smith was being transported from Montego Bay, where he was being held at Freeport Police Station, to the police Major Investigation in Kingston to be formally charged when it crashed.

The police yesterday confirmed that Smith died in a three-vehicle collision on the Linstead bypass in St Catherine that also claimed the life of police Constable Orlando Irons and left two other lawmen injured.

Smith had been under investigation in connection with the unusual death two Sundays ago, of two of his followers in a bizarre night that some say involved human sacrifice.

During the bloody ritual at Pathways International's Albion location in St James, in addition to the people killed, three others were injured. One man was shot dead by the police after he allegedly charged at lawmen with a knife.