Video shows Ruddock taking responsibility for Pathways killing

Murder accused Andre Ruddock had expressed regret in a video-recorded caution statement to police, admitting he was guilty of killing fellow church member Taneka Gardner and that it was something he should not have done.

“I am guilty of it. I have to take full responsibility. I am guilty, although I was command to do it. It is something I shouldn’t have done,” Ruddock said in the statement recorded on October 18, 2021, a day after Gardner’s throat was slashed during a bizarre series of events at the Pathways International Kingdom Restoration Ministries in St James.

Ruddock had also told investigators during a video-recorded question-and-answer session that he knew Gardner and had known her for more than a year, although he could not specify exactly how long.

Asked during the session who had been present when he slashed Gardner’s throat, he said there were many people at the scene.

He further said it was the first time he had slashed anyone’s throat and that he had never witnessed anyone doing so before.

The St James farmer and security guard is on trial in the Home Circuit Court for Gardner’s murder, an alleged sacrificial killing.

The video was viewed by the seven-member jury as the detective constable to whom Ruddock had first reportedly confessed continued his testimony.

During the footage, Ruddock was seen giving a detective sergeant details as he recorded the statement inside a police station, with the detective constable and two justices of the peace present.

According to the statement, which was read by the sergeant in the video, Ruddock reported that he had been working for the church’s leader, Pastor Kevin Smith, and that on the day of the incident, he had brought his cows to the church, as he usually did.

“So when I reach in with the cows, I get an instruction from His Excellency, to slash a lady throat,” Ruddock said in the statement, using one of Smith’s assumed titles.

He said Gardner was kneeling when he approached her with a knife and slit her throat.

“Then I dropped the knife and realised what I had done,” he said.

Ruddock said he then headed towards the gate but was struck in the head by an unidentified person, causing him to fall to the ground and lose consciousness.

On regaining consciousness, he said he saw soldiers stepping on him and asking if he was alive.

SIGNED OFF ON STATEMENT

After reading the statement, the sergeant asked Ruddock if what he had heard was correct and he acknowledged that it was and signed the statement.

The detective constable said Ruddock was told that a question-and-answer session would be conducted to clear up any ambiguities.

He said Ruddock was also given the opportunity to speak with the two justices of the peace alone before the session commenced.

The court heard that Ruddock was asked 42 questions and answered all of them.

During that session, which was also video-recorded, Ruddock said he had known Smith since 2012.

He also said that he was a member of the church and had been baptised in 2015. He said he regularly visited the church on Wednesdays, Fridays and Saturdays and would see the pastor during those visits.

Ruddock said Smith had sent the knife to him through Kevon Plummer, whom he described as Smith’s son.

He said he could not recall details about the knife but remembered that it had a handle.

The detective constable said after the session ended, he read the questions and answers back to Ruddock, who made no changes to his responses during or after the exercise.

Ruddock was then invited to sign each page of the question-and-answer document. The two justices of the peace also signed.

The witness described Ruddock as cooperative throughout the process, adding that he appeared comfortable given the circumstances.

He further testified that Ruddock was not forced, threatened, intimidated or harmed, and that no inducement was offered to him.

He also explained that the video recording and related files were transferred from the memory card to a DVD, labelled and secured in envelopes.

The video recording and the question-and-answer documents were tendered into evidence.

The trial continues today before Justice Leighton Pusey.

editorial@gleanerjm.com