Pastor on sex charges provides DNA sample

THE KINGSTON pastor accused of repeatedly having sex with a 12-year-old girl before impregnating her has provided police investigators with DNA samples, making good on an offer he made in August.

Kenneth Blake, 56, pastor of the Harvest Temple Apostolic Church, voluntarily gave DNA samples at the Government Forensic Laboratory last month, his attorney Abledon Foote and police investigators have confirmed.

The alleged victim, who is now 14 years old, is scheduled to give birth next month, and, according to one investigator, samples will be taken from both mother and child and matched with the samples taken from the clergyman to determine if he is, in fact, the father.

Blake is facing charges of rape, forcible abduction, grievous sexual assault, sexual touching, and sexual intercourse with a person under 16 years old. He was charged after he surrendered to the Centre for the Investigation of Sexual Offences and Child Abuse in August.

The Gleaner first reported that the alleged victim has given investigators a detailed statement, claiming that Blake initially forced himself on her before he began to reward her with gifts after their sexual encounters.

But during his first court appearance that month, the pastor denied the allegations and insisted, through his attorney, that the allegations were part of a personal vendetta by the mother of his accuser.

“He is of the firm conviction that no rape took place. He never molested anyone. This is all a lie,” Foote said in court at the time.

To help prove his innocence, Foote said that Blake would provide investigators with DNA samples that would show that he did not impregnate the underage girl.