FATAL FAITH

Pathways International Kingdom Restoration Ministries member Corey James on Thursday said he was convinced that the now-deceased church leader could have brought back his former church sister, who was killed in an alleged sacrificial ritual five years ago.

“I honestly thought Kevin [Smith] would have been able to bring her back to life,” he said in the Home Circuit Court after prosecutor Latoya Bernard asked him what he was thinking after witnessing the killing.

According to James, he and other church members had silently witnessed 39-year-old Taneka Gardner’s death on October 17, 2021, at the Montego Bay-based Pathways International Church.

Asked how everyone was reacting, he said, “Everyone was just behaving normal. No one was reacting.”

The married father of two gave sombre and chilling evidence in the murder trial of Andre Ruddock, the church’s former security officer and Smith’s bodyguard, who is charged with Gardner’s murder.

James, during his evidence-in-chief before a seven-member jury comprising six women and one man, detailed what he said he witnessed at the church, including the deaths of Gardner and Michael Brown, his wife’s cousin.

Brown, who is now sporting locs, appeared uncomfortable as he shifted repeatedly in the dock. At times, he sat with his hands folded and his head resting against the back of the dock before changing position and holding his head at different angles.

The witness, who was Smith’s agitant – meaning he had helped him to get dressed, including shaving his head – recalled seeing Smith pulling the dialysis tubes from Brown’s neck and leaving him to bleed.

James said Smith told Brown that he would have to die because he had disobeyed him and had failed to bring the $600,000 he had instructed him to take to pay for his healing.

He told the court that Smith asked Ruddock where Brown could be taken to bleed out and whether he could be put in the fowl coop. But James said he could not remember whether Ruddock answered.

Prior to his death, the court heard that Brown, who had been sitting on a chair outside the church near the boardwalk, got up and fell at Smith’s feet, crying out for healing from his kidney failure.

However, Smith told him that when he had returned from America, he had instructed him to bring the money when he came to see him, but he had failed to comply.

The witness said neither he nor Ruddock did or said anything when Smith ripped the tube from Brown’s neck.

He said Smith then stepped forward to the front of the boardwalk, facing the church gate, with a paper containing the names of church members. James said Smith called Ruddock and Kevin Plummer close to him and told them that he was going to appoint them Archangels Gabriel and Michael, and that he was going to call the names of those who must enter the church, and anyone else who tried to enter must be killed. The witness said Smith then sent for two knives, which he gave to Plummer and Ruddock.

When Smith started calling names, James said he recalled hearing the names of his mother, sister, and son. He said he signed for his son on the paper as they all had to sign “999”. Gardner’s name was also called.

James said when Gardner arrived, she was carrying a mini-suitcase. Smith asked her where she was going with it and ordered that the suitcase be taken outside the gate.

He recalled Smith then telling Gardner that her blood was not clean before asking her, “Do you believe I am God and that I can heal you?”

She said yes, James testified.

The witness said Smith then asked Gardner, “Do you believe if you die I can bring you back to life?”

Gardner, he said, shouted, “Yes,” at the top of her voice.

James said the pastor then instructed, “Archangel, cut her throat.”

James said he observed Ruddock nudging Plummer with his elbow before Ruddock ran towards Gardner, who was kneeling.

“He rest the knife under her throat. He brought her down on the ground, rubbing her throat with the knife,” James testified.

“I just saw her foot kicking, and I could hear the gurgling sound like blood rushing from her throat,” he said.

James said the act lasted for about a minute and recalled Smith asking for Gardner’s head to be cut “right off”.

He said Ruddock complied and was in the process of doing so when a cow approached them. James said Smith then instructed them to kill the cow, which was chased by Plummer.

Ruddock then moved away from Gardner, who, James said, was lying on what appeared to be a blood-stained white sheet. At that point, he said he noticed that three police units had arrived outside the church.

James also recounted the events that led up to the deadly confrontation. He said the incident unfolded after Smith posted a message on Facebook telling members to come to the church because there was going to be a flood.

Asked by the prosecutor what flood, James said he did not know what flood as some jurors were observed trying to stifle their laughter.

James said he was told to come to the church for safe refuge while acknowledging that he had genuinely believed that a flood was coming.

The court heard that he went to the church with his wife, daughter, and his wife’s friend, who were at his home. When he arrived, about 12 people were there, and he recalled seeing Ruddock.

James said members were told to bring white sheets and that after he entered the church, Smith told them to “sit on the ground and cover our face under the sheets and not to look at him”.

He said, following instructions from Smith, he and other men started throwing out items, including food, sanitary napkins, and tissues, in front of the building.

“Because of COVID-19, he was, basically, telling us the world was coming to an end,” James said, adding that Smith had told them to take out all their money and buy enough food to sustain them.

Asked whether it was the same food Smith had instructed them to buy that they were now discarding, James said Smith told them that the items were from Babylon and would not be needed.

The witness will resume his evidence on Monday when the trial resumes before Justice Leighton Pusey

Smith, who led Pathways International, died about a week after the church incident in a motor-vehicle crash while being transported to Kingston to face charges arising from the incident.

Ruddock is represented by attorneys-at-law Anthony Williams and Venice Brown.

Also appearing for the Crown is Carolyn Wright.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com