Montego Bay pastor murdered

Sheena Gayle, Gleaner Writer

WESTERN BUREAU:

THE UPSURGE of violence in the tourism capital crept into the Church yesterday when an internationally renowned Montego Bay-based pastor was gunned down in the Second City.

Gunmen shot 81-year-old Wilbert Peynado in his head as he conducted his business along the commercial district of Barnett Street in the city. He was pastor of the Church of Jesus Christ.

Hyacinth Armstrong, one of his church members, wept openly as she tried to fathom why someone would want to kill Peynado.

"Oh God! Oh God! Why dem kill bishop? He just came back from the United States after celebrating his birthday on the 19th of November, so we as a church decided to have something here for him," Armstrong wept.

Peynado's ministry spans as far as Africa and has a branch in the United States of America. The pastor was among three persons murdered within hours in Montego Bay.

The issue of crime and violence in Jamaica did not escape the purview of the US ambassador to Jamaica, Pamela Bridgewater, who was on an official visit to the city.

"There is no panacea for crime. Crime is everywhere in all countries. However, we cannot allow it to take over our communities," she said when asked about the issue of crime and violence in Jamaica.

Bridgewater has pledged to reach out to NOBLE, an international-based organisation that helps to fight crime in communities, to look at a way to try to address the crime situation in Jamaica.

Meanwhile, Reverend Conrad Pitkin, pastor for the Faith Temple Church of God in Montego Bay, condemned the killing of the pastor who served the community and his ministry for decades.

"It is a sad day for the entire church community, not only for Montego Bay, and I extend my condolences to his family at this time of grief. None of us is isolated from these acts of violence," the pastor bemoaned.