A St Elizabeth woman is accusing a pastor from the parish of helping to destroy her marriage.

The woman, Sharnella Yoot, told THE WEEKEND STAR that the pastor's niece got involved in a relationship with her husband a little over two years ago and got pregnant shortly after. She said the woman gave birth to a daughter that is now two years old and even though the entire community, including the pastor and his family knew about it, she only found out about it two weeks ago.

The 30-year-old woman said she had her suspicions about a relationship between her 34-year-old husband and the girl, who was then 17, but had no idea that the two shared a child. She said: "I never know anyting about the child and I come to find out that the whole community, including mi husband family, knew about this child. Is just the other day mi find out."

She said she got the shocking news from a fish vendor, who after trying to woo her with lyrics to no avail, blurted out the truth. "Mi buy some fish from him and I was walking away and him seh 'man a look yu and u cotch up wid da man deh whe have pickney wid next ooman'."

She said when she confronted her husband, he admitted to having a child but said he could not bring himself to telling her the truth.

Yoot said the pastor would often visit a relative's house where he kept fasting and night services, sometimes inviting she and her husband, all the while knowing the truth. She said: "When I went to the pastor about it, after I found out, he smiled and said it was not his place to tell me. After I begged him to tell me the truth, that is when he told me."

She said: "As a pastor you supposed to be putting people together and saving marriages, not destroying one." Yoot has not yet decided whether she will divorce her husband, but said a lawyer advised her to seek counsellingbefore making a decision.

In the meantime, the pastor told THE WEEKEND STAR that he had done nothing wrong. He said his niece had made a mistake by getting involved with the man, but at the time they had no knowledge that he was involved with anyone, let alone married.

"After we found out, I made sure she had no connections with this man. They have had nothing to do with each other since then. In fact, my niece went overseas for two years. That was my role, to tell her not to be involved with him anymore and that's what I did," he said.

With regards to keeping the truth from Yoot, he said: "I don't have a right to tell her. We are not friends and we don't talk."

He said his primary obligation was to ensure his niece's well-being and he did just that by ensuring that she cut off all contact with Yoot's husband. He said: "I am positive that there is nothing going on between them (now). In fact, she is engaged to someone else. Me and my wife and the child's mother are the ones that take care of the baby. We don't even ask this man for anything."

He said he would not allow Yoot to mar his image as he is an upstanding citizen and has done nothing wrong.

Name changed