(Jamaica Gleaner) The Kingston pastor charged with rape and other sex-related offences for repeatedly having sex with a 12-year-old girl and impregnating her has had his bail revoked by a High Court judge who reportedly suggested that he give careful consideration to the case against him.
According to reports, the suggestion came yesterday after the accused pastor, Kenneth Blake, 56, appeared in the Home Circuit Court and insisted that his case go to trial despite two DNA tests which all but concluded that he is the father of his accuser’s young son.
Blake, who has been on bail since August 2017, was taken into custody at the end of the court hearing and his attorney, Able-don Foote, applied for and was granted permission to withdraw from the case.
The hearing was closed to the media, but according to reports, the presiding judge pointed out that for a case to go to trial, there must be issues to be examined.
However, The Gleaner understands that the judge indicated that in Blake’s case, there are no issues to be tried, as the two DNA tests were saying the same thing.
According to sources, both tests have revealed that “there is a 99.999 per cent chance that Pastor Kenneth Blake cannot be excluded” as the child’s father.
Blake, who is the pastor of Harvest Temple Apostolic Church, located on Slipe Pen Road, is facing charges of rape, forcible abduction, grievous sexual assault, sexual touching, and sexual intercourse with a person under 16 years old.
The Gleaner first reported that he was arrested in August 2017 by investigators from the Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse.
The charges were filed after the child gave investigators a detailed statement in which she accused Blake of having sex with her at his St Andrew home in 2015 when she was 12 years old.
It is alleged that during the first encounter, the clergyman forced himself on the child after giving her older sister money to “buy some things” downtown.
Following this, according to the girl’s account to investigators, he began rewarding her with gifts to keep quiet about their sexual encounters.
However, Blake has denied the allegations and insisted in court that it was part of an extortion attempt by the mother of his accuser.