MONTEGO BAY, St James — Ma Cherry, a cow rescued after police interrupted a bizarre ritual involving human sacrifice on October 17 of last year, appears to be expecting. The cow was among the animals removed from the garbage-strewn yard of Kevin Smith’s Pathways International Kingdom Restoration Ministries in Albion, Montego Bay.

“We think the cow… is actually pregnant because she is starting to swell up something chronic,” managing director for Montego Bay Animal Haven, Tammie Browne, told the Jamaica Observer.

Browne and her team played a major role in the relocation of the Pathways animals in the days following the night of horror in which three people lost their lives.

Now, five months later, Browne theorises that Ma Cherry was pregnant at the time of the horrific incident.

“It wasn’t just her; it was her and her unborn calf that were actually saved!” she said excitedly.

Cows gestate for roughly the same period as humans. The plan is to do tests to confirm if Ma Cherry is indeed with calf.

Meanwhile, Browne said the rest of the animals rescued from the cult church compound are doing well.

“They’re brilliant,” she replied when quizzed about their welfare.

In the days after the incident the animals were transported to an undisclosed location, a mammoth feat pulled off by Animal Haven, Hope Zoo and the Jamaica Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (JSPCA).

“It was really good to have all the organisations working together to make that rescue happen. There was a massive operation; there were hundreds of birds, hundreds of chickens, goats, ducks, parrots. There were a lot of animals there; rabbits, you name it. It’s not something we could have handled on our own but by working together with the zoo and JSPCA, we managed to assist every animal there, what didn’t get taken by the community,” said Browne.

News that Ma Cherry is possibly carrying a new life is in stark contrast to the bizarre series of events that led to the cow first crossing paths with Browne and her team.

On October 17 of last year, what Pathways congregants believed was a three-day convention turned into a nightmare after two members of the religious organisation were killed during a ritual. Three others were injured. Another member was killed by the police after he allegedly attacked the security forces with a knife when they breached the building.

The bizarre occurrences of the night became even stranger as the days went by, with former members describing how Smith had manipulated and ruled them with an iron fist. Many signed over their life insurance payouts to him, replacing their blood relatives who previously had that role.

On October 25, Smith and an accompanying policeman died in a motor vehicle crash while the disgraced cult leader was being transported from Montego Bay to Kingston. He had been on the verge of being slapped with a raft of charges in connection with the incidents of October 17.

Two days after he died in the crash, Smith was posthumously charged with two counts of murder, conspiracy to commit murder, illegal possession of firearm and ammunition, wounding with intent and shooting with intent.

The murder charges are in relation to the vicious killings of 39-year-old Taneka Gardner and 38-year-old Michael Scottsdale Brown, both of St James.

André Ruddock, who allegedly acted on Smith’s instructions and cut Gardner’s throat, is still before the courts facing one count of murder and one count of wounding with intent.