A confessed murderer and former leader of the ‘Fatherless Crew’, one of the deadliest gangs ever formed in West Kingston, was among a record 140 persons accepted as newly baptised members of Pentecostal City Mission Church yesterday.

The group, which included other reformed gangsters, was made up of people from Arnett Gardens, Fletcher’s Land, Tivoli Gardens, along with Denham and Hannah towns.

Marcia Gale (second left), pastor and overseer at Pentecostal City Mission Church on Blount Street in West Kingston, welcomes 140 new Christians who were yesterday received during a ceremony at the church. (Photo: Garfield Robinson)

The new converts, who were all dressed in white, were baptised between November last year and January this year, following a GOD series of prayer meetings conducted in the communities by members of the church, which is situated on Blount Street in West Kingston.

The 29-year-old ex-gangster, whose name the Observer has opted not to reveal, and who committed his first in a series of murders at age 14, said he gave up his life of crime to become a member of the church last November.

“I am from Jones Town, and I got involved in the ‘Fatherless Crew’ because it offered me a way to take care of my (single) mother while she was going through her (breast) cancer treatment. It (crime) also helped me to put my little sister through school,” said the youth, whose calm voice, neat attire, and clean-shaven face, sporting a pair of test glasses, hid his dark past.

He said that at least 30 of his closest friends have been killed by gun violence; four of whom were shot dead by members of the police force during a recent gunfight in Arnett Gardens. In that incident, he barely escaped with his life after being shot and injured, he said.

He has never been arrested for any of his crimes, and said that on numerous occasions he survived deadly encounters with rival gangsters, his cronies, and even a female companion.

Now he is living for the Lord and his newborn son.

“The thing that separated me [from crime], I think, was just the love of God and the love that I had. I still had a heart, but I was in it [crime], and it wasn’t easy. Even though I had a heart, I still had to be ‘evilous’,” he said. “But I made a promise to God that if He blesses me with a son I would give him back to Him. He blessed me, and I decided there and then that this was the way to go,” said the youth, who has been avoiding the West Kingston community in an effort to prevent harm to himself and his relatives.

Yesterday, a proud Marcia Gale, pastor and overseer at the church, was elated at what she described as the largest number of persons she has ever received since becoming a member of the church in 1980.

“This is the largest we have ever had; we have had like 70 persons before, but by far this is the largest. I am excited about the work of God and we are expecting great things. Because, if God is in every family in this community, then you won’t have to come here to cover anymore bad news,” she said. “God has come into this community and He will make a change here,” said Gale, who brushed aside scepticism about the residents’ sincerity to serve God.

“This year marks 11 years since I have been the pastor of this church, and I have seen persons saved. I have a membership of more than 400. Before this it was about 100, and most of these persons are from West Kingston,” she said. “There are persons who are very serious about their God, and I think that people — after trying several things which have failed — are now turning to God.”

West Kingston has, for years, been rocked by intermittent episodes of violence. Probably the most intense was the May 2010 encounter between gunmen loyal to former Tivoli Gardens strongman Christopher ‘Dudus’ Coke and the security forces which resulted in the deaths of more than 70 persons, including two policemen and a soldier.

The gunmen, some of whom were imported into Tivoli Gardens from other sections of the island, engaged police and soldiers in almost three days of gun battles in order to prevent Coke’s arrest.

Coke, who was wanted by the United States Government on drug and arms trafficking charges, has since been arrested, extradited, and is to be sentenced in a New York Court this week after pleading guilty to racketeering charges.

The May 2010 events not only crippled businesses in the downtown Kingston shopping district, but also traumatised many West Kingston residents.

Yet Gale, who is also a resident of West Kingston, is not convinced that the incident had much to do with people’s decision to “surrender to the Lord”.

“It is not so much the incursion that pushed people into this light, because this is two years later. I would have expected that [immediately] after the incursion I wouldn’t have place to hold people, but that was not so,” she explained.

“I think the residents have reached to a point where they said ‘enough is enough, let me change my life and go this route’. I have heard their testimonies, and I have heard the seriousness of them wanting to serve God,” she said, adding that the prayer meetings have also produced 12 marriages.

After yesterday’s church service, another newly baptised Christian, Charmaine Folkner, a resident of Tulip Lane, said she found God after exhausting all other options.

“I used to go through a rough time, and there were times when I just gave up hope. I just decided that enough is enough and I decided to find somewhere to go to seek the Lord. Because, if you don’t seek Him, you are never going to be comfortable,” she said.