SOME 100 pastors from churches in Spanish Town, St Catherine, are to meet this weekend as they seek to adopt a cohesive approach in the fight against crime in the old capital.

The effort is being spearheaded by the Jamaica Association of Full Gospel Assemblies (JAFGA) and form part of a three-day campaign of prayer meetings in the town — a once vibrant town now ruined by years of violence and neglect.

“Pastors and several religious leaders will come together for a time of introspection and prayer. We want to look among ourselves and to repent on behalf of Spanish Town,” said Pastor Rohan Edwards, head of JAFGA.

Edwards was speaking on Sunday during a march and prayer vigil in the Lauriston community, which was the scene of three beheadings — carried out days apart– over a week ago by members of the notorious Klansman gang.

Church member Charmaine Rattray and her daughter 19-year-old Joyette Lynch were murdered and decapitated by thugs who invaded their home just after dawn on July 20. Rattray’s head was fished from the Rio Cobre two Thursdays ago, while Lynch’s head was found in the community on Saturday.

Those murders were preceded by the beheading of 18-year-old neighbour Scott Thomas two days prior. Scott is believed to have been murdered by his cronies from the same gang. One of the men suspected in Thomas’ murder — 22-year-old Durrando ‘Chuckie’ Davidson of a Jones Avenue address — was killed in a shoot-out with the police on Friday

His accomplices, however, remained at large up to yesterday.

During Sunday’s prayer vigil, the church called for those responsible for the heinous murders to be turned over to the police.

During Sunday’s event within the Lauriston community, the large group of Christians visited the site of Rattray and Lynch’s murder, where incensed participants, who braved the rain, described the incident as one of “worst the country has ever seen”.