“And apparently he did help a lot.”īut critics have suggested that Gilbert’s flock may have been troubled.Īn editorial in the Grenadian Voice charged, “Reports suggest that even more evidence exists to prove that the molestation and sexual, as well as physical, abuse of young girls has been a longtime practice of this despicable character masquerading as a man of God.”īeverly Reece, one of Robby-Ann’s teachers, who had frequent dealings with the pastor, said, “I remember when I was girl, my mother wouldn’t let me ride in this man’s car alone.” “He said he started the Church of the Unicorn because he had a vision to help people,” she said. “He made himself powerful because of who he was friends with and what he did,” said Linda Straker, a reporter for the weekly Grenadian Voice who knows Gilbert and has covered the murder case from the start. He won back an old job as tax collector and became so effective that, one local businessman commented, “he made some big men cry.”īut Gilbert was equally effective at politics. In the mid-1990s, he established his simple yellow-and-brown concrete Holy Temple of the Unicorn, with rusted folding chairs and unfinished pine pews, on the outskirts of St. Gilbert ultimately became a charismatic master. But Clouden, who also converted to the Spiritual Baptist faith years ago, said that many among the Caribbean’s descendants of African slaves are drawn to the religion, which combines African legends, drums and bells and moans and groans with biblical teachings. It’s unclear when Gilbert left that faith. The soft-spoken and powerfully built Gilbert, Clouden said, is a man of humble roots who started out as a Sunday school teacher in Grenada’s Roman Catholic Church. “He was the spiritual father and healer of the prime minister.”Ī spokeswoman for Prime Minister Keith Mitchell, who is a Roman Catholic, flatly denied that he has such close ties to Gilbert.
“Pastor Gilbert was exceedingly prominent,” Clouden said. His defense attorney, Anslem Clouden, argues that Gilbert is innocent of murder and that his exalted position should be seen as a sign of his good character.
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