An execution revisited

Dec 04, 2011 Features / Columnists, Murder and Mystery

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–    Did an ambitious ‘friend’ hire the gunman who killed Pastor Ian David?

By Michael Jordan
Alex David was sitting in the Kaieteur News lobby when I arrived last Friday. He was clutching

a large photograph of his dead brother and seeking answers to a very baffling murder that happened four years ago.
It’s not every day that a pastor gets killed in front of his own congregation, but that was exactly what happened to Mr. David’s younger brother, Pastor Ian Errol David, on December 1, 2007.
The main theory was that a jealous woman had orchestrated the killing, but Alex David has been holding onto a theory of his own. It involves a woman alright, but not the one police have been focusing on.
But before examining Mr. David’s theory, let’s go back to that fateful night.
It was Sunday night, December 1, 2007, and four members of the Prophecy One Deliverance Ministry were gathered in the church, located at Lot 45 Hadfield Street, Lodge.
Among them were 41-year-old church leader/pastor Ian David, his fiancée, Kendra Dalrymple, his adopted daughter, Shondell Williams, and Williams’ husband, Pastor Alwyn Williams.
The congregation had already left and the small gathering was counting the night’s offerings. It was then that a stranger entered the open western door.
The man was wearing a cap, he had a rag around the lower portion of his face, and he was carrying a gun.
“All ah y’all lie down on the ground,” the gunman said.  According to Shondell Williams, she assumed that some church member was pulling a prank.
But when the man with the gun repeated his order, she realized that he meant business. All of the church members immediately lay face down on the floor – everyone, that is, except Pastor David.

He was backing the door when the man entered. But on hearing the command, Pastor David turned to the stranger.
Some of the eyewitnesses would later reflect that the man of God appeared to recognize the gunman.
“The blood of Jesus,” the pastor said, still standing. He then began to speak “in tongues”.
This appeared to infuriate the gunman, who responded by hitting the pastor on the head. This silenced Pastor David, who joined his members on the floor.
After ensuring that no one else was in the building, the gunman began to rummage through his victim’s bags and pockets. He removed $35,000 from Shondell Williams’ bag, and a gold bracelet she was wearing. He also took $17,000 from her husband’s wallet, and a substantial sum of cash that Pastor David was carrying in the event of an emergency.
The gunman then collected all his victims’ cell phones and switched them off.
He’s leaving now, Shondell Williams thought. But then, inexplicably, the man walked over to Pastor David’s fiancée, Kendra Dalrymple. He placed a chair on her head.
Two gunshots then rang out in the church, followed by silence.
Several minutes passed before the small gathering was certain that the gunman had left. Eventually, they scrambled to their feet, only to be greeted by a terrible sight.
Pastor Ian David lay face down and motionless on the floor in a gathering pool of blood. Williams immediately ran outside and raised an alarm. A nearby resident transported the injured pastor to the Georgetown Public Hospital.
He was accompanied by his fiancée and other church members, who prayed for his recovery.
But at 01:45 hrs on December 2, 2007, doctors announced that Pastor Ian David was dead.
An autopsy revealed that the man of God had been shot at close range in the back of the head and between the shoulder blades with a .32 pistol. Crime scene detectives recovered two .32 shells from the scene.
Investigators concluded that robbery was not the gunman’s primary motive. All evidence suggested that the pastor was the victim of an execution-style killing. They began to look into the victim’s background.
Detectives learned that Pastor Ian David had moved out of his matrimonial home six months before he was murdered.
He had divorced and had intended to get married in February 2008. Information reaching the detectives suggested that jealousy over the relationship could have led someone to pay a hit-man to kill the pastor.
All investigations suggested that the killer was a professional, since he had appeared to be unhurried and unflustered during the entire ordeal.
Acting on this information, investigators questioned the pastor’s ex-wife, but learned nothing that could assist them in their case. The woman told me she had not had contact with Pastor David since their divorce and had no idea who could have wanted him dead.
Ballistic tests on the recovered .32 shells failed to help them trace the murder weapon.
The pastor’s adopted daughter, Shondell Williams, says that she still has no idea why anyone would have wanted to kill Mr. David.
But according to her, she remembers some puzzling things that have caused her to wonder whether her adopted father somehow knew of his fate.
Mrs. Williams says that Pastor David had appointed her to be Assistant Pastor, and placed her in charge of the church for a month.
She also recalls that on the fateful night, Pastor David shook the hands of several members of his congregation and informed them that he was “passing on the mantle”.
Mrs. Williams and her husband have since taken over the operations of the church.
But Alex David has his own theories about his brother’s death.
According to him, back in 2006, his younger sibling acquired a bank loan and bought the large Hadfield Street, Lodge property, which would become his church, for $13M. Pastor David reportedly made every effort to repay the loan, and allegedly only owed the bank $1M when he was slain.
But there are reports that all was not going smoothly. It is alleged that a very forceful and ambitious individual was attempting to take over the leadership of the church.
According to Alex David, his brother had contemplated leaving the church because of the problems he was having with this individual.
It is alleged that on the night he was slain, Pastor David had announced to a few members of his church his intention to remarry. It is also being suggested that the pastor had intended to leave the building earlier, but was persuaded by one member to wait.
Kaieteur News was told that on the night of his execution, Pastor David had about $600,000 in his possession, along with the transport for the Hadfield Street property.
The theory that Alex David has seems to indicate that someone very close to Pastor David hired the gunman that killed him. The suggestion seems to be that this individual and an associate coveted the property that the pastor bought and renovated, and may also have been furious about his impending marriage.
But for now, all Alex David has is speculation, and speculation alone cannot solve a crime. On Friday, he vented his frustration by standing outside the church with a placard and a photograph of his slain brother.
The placard read: “Four years ago our brother Pastor Ian Errol David was murdered. No justice onto this time and no peace for us…”

If you have any further information on this case or any other, please contact us at our Lot 24 Saffon Street, Charlestown office or by telephone. We can be reached on telephone numbers 225-8465, 225-8491, or 225-8458. You need not disclose your identity.
You can also contact Michael Jordan at his email address: [email protected].

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