Detective, defence clash over what statement said about Gardner’s killing

An investigator insisted in the Home Circuit Court on Tuesday that she was told that Andre Ruddock had been instructed to cut the throat of church member Taneka Gardner despite the defence challenging her account.

The detective sergeant maintained under cross-examination that her statement contained a reference to Ruddock cutting Gardner’s throat after defence attorney Anthony Williams pressed her on what an injured church member had actually told her on the night of the October 2021 incident.

The church member, a junior minister in training and one of the prosecution’s key witnesses, had testified that he witnessed Ruddock cutting the woman’s throat on October 17, 2021, on the compound of the Pathways International Kingdom Restoration Ministries church in Montego Bay, St James.

He said Ruddock was instructed to cut her throat by the now-deceased church leader, Dr Kevin Smith.

Williams, during Ruddock’s murder trial on Tuesday, sought to highlight a distinction between the church member allegedly telling the detective that Ruddock had been instructed to cut Gardner’s throat and the witness’s evidence in court that the church member told her Ruddock had actually cut it.

“Tell me what the [church member] tell you re the alleged cutting of the throat by Ruddock,” Williams asked the policewoman, who wept repeatedly throughout her testimony

“That ‘His Excellency’ told him to cut the throat of Taneka, and he was the one who cut her throat,” she answered, using one of Smith’s assumed monikers, while indicating she was paraphrasing.

Williams then suggested that she had not included that information in her statement.

The witness disagreed but conceded that it was not recorded in those exact words.

NOT RECORDED IN THE STATEMENT

“Not only is that exact phrase not in your statement, at no time did you put in your statement that the church member told you that Andre Ruddock cut Taneka’s throat,” the attorney said.

Responding, the witness said she did not understand.

“There is absolutely no reference in your statement that the church member told you that Andre Ruddock cut Taneka’s throat.

“Yuh never say it at all. Is that clearer for you?” Williams asked.

“Not any clearer,” the witness replied.

Williams then reiterated that he was saying that she made no reference in her statement to being told that his client had cut Gardner’s throat.

The witness, who disagreed, was then shown her statement to refresh her memory.

The specific section read that “ [the church member] pointed in the direction and said there is a man on the inside, whose name is Andre Ruddock, and that he was given instruction to cut the throat of the woman lying on the ground”.

After reading the passage, she insisted that it contained a reference to Ruddock cutting Gardner’s throat.

Following further back and forth on the issue, she agreed with Williams’ suggestion that “the word given instruction to cut is not cutting”.

The witness had earlier told the court that when she arrived at the scene, the injured church member pointed out Ruddock, who he identified as the gate man, and told her that he had cut Gardner’s throat.

However, she disagreed with Williams’s suggestion that her account in court of what the church member told her conflicted with what she had recorded in her statement.

She also testified that the church member, who was bleeding from his back and neck, told her that Smith had shot him and instructed another man to stab him in the back.

Meanwhile, earlier in her evidence-in-chief, the witness told the court about her encounter with a female constable, who was a member of the church.

The trial had previously heard from a junior minister in training that during the incident, Smith instructed the policewoman to hand him her firearm, which he used to fire at the police. The minister in training also recalled that Smith had called the policewoman for a second magazine.

The detective sergeant said she saw the policewoman at the scene, and she led her to a room in the church, where she pulled out a knapsack that was inside a pillowcase.

ITEMS INSIDE A BAG

The detective sergeant said she searched the bag and found a black Glock 26 gun as well as a digital recorder.

She said the bag also contained police uniform and other personal items.

Earlier in the morning session, an assistant deputy superintendent of police (DSP) said the policewoman had told her “something about the firearm and the use of the firearm”, but she had not prolonged the conversation.

The acting DSP had testified that the policewoman, who was barefoot and wrapped in a white cloth, approached her outside with her hands raised, saying that she had information, but she told her that she did not have to say anything.

She denied the suggestion that she cautioned the woman because she did not want her to incriminate herself.

The witness, however, explained that she told her not to speak because investigators were there, whom she had informed, and that the policewoman was going to be charged with breaches of the Disaster Risk Management Act.

Turning back to the detective sergeant, she was very emotional on the witness stand and was observed grimacing at times. She removed her glasses repeatedly to wipe her tears.

She described the scene at the church as “appalling” and “depressing”.

She also recalled seeing the bodies of Gardner and the two other men, Michael Brown and Kevon Plummer – the three people killed that night.

She said Gardner’s was wrapped in a white cloth and she could see that she was of a black complexion.

“Her feet were out. She was lying face down, throat cut. The area of the neck down was bloody,” she said.

The witness, who later saw Gardner’s body at the funeral home, said: “Her throat was completely slashed. You could see a hole down in her chest.

Describing the area on the church verandah where she saw Brown, she said, “Blood all over. The place fully ransacked with lots of cup soup and food thrown all over the place.”

The detective sergeant also told the court that a constable had handed her a second firearm, which she gave to investigators from the Major Investigation Division, along with other items seized.

During her testimony, she also indicated that she had spoken to Smith, who was dressed only in orange briefs.

She testified that when she asked what was happening, Smith stretched out a long cloth and said, “Try it on. I am the I am.”

She also mentioned speaking to Ruddock, who was partially dressed.

However, she said when asked his name, he reportedly said he was Andre Kirlew.

The detective said she became suspicious and instructed another officer to take hold of him while she continued her investigation.

The witness will continue undergoing further cross-examination today.

tanesha.mundle@gleanerjm.com