Qahal Yahweh religious group members freed in child endangerment case

WESTERN BUREAU:

Two years and three months after their trial began in April 2024, members of the Qahal Yahweh religious group, who were facing charges related to child endangerment, walked free from the St James Parish Court on Wednesday after the court ruled that they had no case to answer.

Presiding parish judge Kaysha Grant-Pryce upheld a no-case submission made by defence attorneys Peter Champagnie and Samoi Campbell on behalf of the 16 defendants, who were charged under both the Child Care and Protection Act and the Education Act.

In making the submission, Champagnie and Campbell argued that the evidence relating to the charges was not sufficient to establish a credible case against the 16 defendants — Christopher Anderson, Omar Thompson, Jevaughn Thompson, Nekeisha Harding, Derrick Clarke, Roanalee Maitland, Alicia Meadley, Fabian Nelson, Franchain Paris, Jodian Spence, Jose Foskin, Oral Spence, Rayon Letman, Ingrid Williams, Vera Woolery, and Melisha Thompson.

The Qahal Yahweh members were arrested and charged following two raids on their compound in Montego Bay, St James, in 2023. In the first raid on June 7, 23 children, ages one to 17 years, were removed from the premises and placed in state care, and in the second raid on June 30, the 16 defendants were arrested.

Regarding the alleged Child Care and Protection Act breaches, the attorneys said in their no-case submission that, aside from references to unsanitary conditions, the prosecution’s evidence did not meet the threshold required under law to show that the conditions at the Qahal Yahweh compound endangered the children’s health, and that the identities of the children in question were never revealed in the evidence. They also indicated that the school at the Qahal Yahweh compound had received provisional permission to operate.

Six witnesses, including a former member of the Qahal Yahweh group, three officers from the Child Protection and Family Services Agency, an assistant registrar at the Ministry of Education’s Independent Schools Branch, and the investigating officer, gave evidence during the trial.

The Qahal Yahweh group first came to national attention in 2019 when police removed six children, including a pregnant 16-year-old, from the compound. At that time, the religious group was under investigation for allegations that its members were conducting child marriages, as well as being involved in human trafficking, abduction, child abuse, and sexual assault.

christopher.thomas@gleanerjm.com