During the coroner's inquest on Friday, Sonia McDowell Smith, the motorist involved in the crash that claimed the lives of Constable Orlando Irons and cult Pastor Kevin Smith, recounted the harrowing moments leading up to the tragedy. The inquest aims to unravel the events leading to the accident, revealing discrepancies in witness testimonies.

Crash terror

Motorist struck by car recounts fear, confusion after fatal Kevin Smith crash

Jamaica Gleaner/10 Feb 2024/Ruddy Mathison/Gleaner Writer 

A MOTORIST involved in the crash that claimed the life of Constable Orlando Irons and cult pastor Kevin Smith recounted the harrowing moments leading up to the tragedy during the coroner’s inquest on Friday.

Sonia McDowell Smith, who was driving her red Toyota Yaris along the Linstead bypass on October 25, 2021, recalled hearing sirens and seeing flashing lights from a police service vehicle approaching from the opposite direction.

Reacting swiftly, she said that she pulled to her left and stopped to make way for the emergency vehicle, only to be struck suddenly by a blue car in which the victims were travelling.

“I tried to pull further left but realised I was pinned to the left side of the blue car,” McDowell Smith recalled.

The impact spun her car out of control and sent it careening across the road before it came to a halt.

She recalled being terrified as smoke emanating from her vehicle.

“I tried to come out but I could not, so I banged on the driver’s door several times and the door was released, ”she recalled as she gave testimony in the St Catherine Parish Court.

McDowell Smith insisted that at no time did she see the blue Toyota Corolla behind the police service vehicle and that she was in her lane when her car was struck.

She also changed her initial statement about pulling to the left and stopping when she heard the siren and saw the flashing lights of the police vehicle before getting back on the main thoroughfare.

During questioning from clerk of the court Matthew McAnuff-Jones, the motorist said she did not stop after she pulled over. Instead, she was moving slowly on the soft shoulder before indicating and pulling back on to the road.

RECOUNTED CHAOS

Contrary to McDowell Smith’s initial account, Detective Corporal Clifton Blight testified that he observed the marked police service car on the right side of the road being followed closely by the blue Toyota Corolla.

Blight recounted the chaos that ensued after the crash, with both vehicles sustaining extensive damage.

“On reaching the stoplight at Church Road, there was a line of traffic before, and I observed a white Ford Ranger pickup truck ahead of the line,” he said.

The cop said he was about three cricket pitches away when he heard a police siren and observed a marked police service car with a blue Toyota Corolla travelling behind. He said shortly after, he heard a crashing sound and saw a lot of dust and smoke behind the marked car.

He said that while passing the Ford Ranger, he observed that the front section was severely damaged, and further up the road, he saw a red car turned across the road and as he exited his vehicle, he recalled seeing a female staggering and he suggested to her that she should stand across the road.

McDowell Smith recounted her fear and confusion in the aftermath of the crash, as she grappled with injuries and shock.

Blight testified that he went to the blue Toyota Corolla and saw a stocky man with chains around his chest and his hands shackled sitting motionless in the back seat with his eyes closed. A policeman in denim was beside him, also motionless with his eyes closed.

He said there were two police officers in the front seats, who were moving but appeared unconscious.

He said he secured the firearms that were in the blue Toyota Corolla and handed them over to the officers in the marked car.

The tragic incident occurred about 9 a.m. as Smith was en route to Kingston to face murder charges.

Just days prior, authorities had stormed the Pathways International Kingdom Restoration Ministries compound in Montego Bay, St James, where Smith was presiding over a bloody and fatal ritual.

So far, the inquest has shed light on the sequence of events leading up to the accident, revealing discrepancies in witness testimonies.

The court is trying to get testimony from the driver of the white Ford Ranger, who is said to be out of the country.

The coroner’s inquest will continue next Tuesday.

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