BERMUDA
Royal Gazette
By Tricia Walters
A victim of paedophile Christopher Winslow Darrell has spoken out in defence of the church that hired the convicted child molester.
The mother of two, who did not want to be identified, said yesterday that if it had not been for the church, she would never have recovered from the traumatic and horrific rape in 1999 – when she was only 16.
In recent weeks, Darrell made headlines after he was hired by Bright Temple AME Church in Warwick as a musical director.
The church gave Darrell the position even though it was aware of his previous convictions because the pastor wanted to give Darrell a “second chance”.
He was given the position with restrictions to stay away from the girls in the church because of his history of molesting young girls.
However, in June Darrell fondled a 13-year-old boy during a music lesson and was subsequently arrested.
The pastor was quoted in the Press as saying that it was hoped the Lord would step in and help Darrell change his ways, but everyone understood now that it was hard for someone like Darrell to control themselves around children.