Pathways International Trial | Police investigator breaks down in tears recalling ‘appalling’ church scene

An investigator who participated in the probe into the October 2024 deadly incident at Pathways International Restoration Ministries in St James broke down in tears today as she recalled walking onto the church compound and seeing what she described as an “appalling” scene.

The detective sergeant became emotional while giving evidence-in-chief, removing her glasses to wipe away tears as she recounted the terrible scene and seeing a body wrapped in a white sheet.

“I was appalled by what I saw,” she told the court.

She said she was at the Montego Hills Police Station when she heard radio transmissions about the incident.

She alerted a patrol team and the duty officer before heading to the scene, arriving about 9:30 pm. with a constable.

The witness recalled seeing a large contingent of police and soldiers, an ambulance with flashing lights, several women dressed in white, numerous vehicles and a few cows.

After speaking with an officer, she went by ambulance on the outside and spoke with an injured man who was bleeding from his neck and back.

That man, the court heard, later identified himself as a member and is one of the Crown’s key witnesses.

The man, she said, pointed out a man seated on the ground as “His Excellency Dr Kevin Smith”, alleging that Smith had shot him and authorised another member to stab him.

She further told the court that the injured man also pointed out another man as the gatekeeper, Andre Ruddock, and that he told her that he had cut the throat of a woman named Taneka.

The witness said she entered the compound and saw the woman’s body lying face down, wrapped in a white sheet, with her throat cut and blood covering the area from her neck down.

She also observed grocery items, including Cup Soup, biscuits and rice, on the outside.

The witness said she later spoke with Smith, who she said was dressed in an orange brief.

The policewoman said when she asked Smith what was happening, she said he stretched out a long cloth and told her “Try it on. I am the I am.”

She also identified the accused in court as the man she encountered at the scene, saying he initially gave his name as Andre Kirlew, although she had doubts about the identity.

Ruddock is on trial for Gardner’s murder.

The prosecution is alleging that Gardner was killed during an alleged sacrificial ritual and that Ruddock was involved in the fatal attack.

Smith died about a week after the church incident in a motor vehicle crash while being transported to Kingston to face charges arising from the events.

- Tanesha Mundle

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