Suicidal pastor Kevin Smith caused fatal crash, inquest finds
A CORONER’S inquest has cleared the cops who were transporting controversial pastor Kevin Smith, with the judge ruling that the clergyman caused the fatal 2021 accident along the Linstead bypass in St Catherine in a bid to commit suicide.
Judge Carol Hughes handed down her decision on Tuesday in the Coroner’s Court in St Catherine.
Smith, 39, died from crash-related injuries in October 2021 while being transported by the police from Montego Bay, St James, to face murder and other related charges to Kingston.
Twenty-six-year-old Constable Orlando Irons, of the Fugitive Apprehension Team, also died in the crash.
Days prior, the authorities had stormed the Pathways International Kingdom Restoration Ministries compound in Albion, St James, where Smith was presiding over a bloody and fatal ritual.
The coroner’s inquest was held to probe the circumstances that led to the deaths of Smith and Irons in the crash.
Hughes ruled that the collision did not occur because of excess speed and found that the cops placed before the inquest were credible witnesses.
It was held that they were not negligent in carrying out their duties, according to attorney-atlaw John Jacobs, who represented the Jamaica Constabulary Force and the two officers.
According to Jacobs, the judge found that, based on the evidence, Smith assaulted the cops who were transporting him, stating that his actions were unlawful and dangerous and caused the death of Irons.
“On the balance of probabilities, this was not death by motor vehicle accident; Kevin Smith died by suicide.
“The judge found that Smith’s unlawful acts [were] responsible for the death of Irons,” said Jacobs.