A UK pastor has been charged with manslaughter after a grandfather of seven drowned during a home baptism — and she allegedly recorded a video saying she saw him “dancing with Jesus.”
Cheryl Bartley, 48, was live-streaming a ceremony in October 2023 for Robert Smith, 61, on the Facebook page of her Life Changing Ministries, according to the Telegraph.
Cheryl Bartley presided over the Christian service that saw Robert Smith drown. Facebook / Life Changing MinistriesThe stream suddenly cut out as Smith, a born-again believer who has Parkinson’s disease, was being baptized in a kids’ paddling pool in the house in Birmingham, according to the report.
Emergency services were called — but the grandfather of seven was already dead. A post-mortem revealed he died from drowning, West Midlands Police said when announcing charges Wednesday.
The pastor later recorded a video about the death — saying that she saw Smith in heaven, “dancing with Jesus,” according to the Telegraph.
She has been charged with gross negligence manslaughter — an offense which carries a sentence ranging between 1 and 18 years on average in the UK — and is set to appear in a Birmingham magistrates court on May 14.
Smith wanted to be baptized a second time. Courtesy Smith familySmith was originally from Jamaica but had lived in the UK for 25 years. He was a barber in Brixton, London, according to the Guardian.
He had already been baptized but wanted the new ceremony to become a “born-again believer,” the Telegraph reported.
