‘Kill the police if they enter’

A police constable on Thursday testified in the murder trial of Andre Ruddock that when he and a team of three other cops arrived at Pathways International Restoration Ministries in Albion, St James, on October 17, 2021, he heard a loud voice giving instructions to kill them if they tried to enter the church premises. Ruddock is on trial for murder in relation to the death of 39-year-old Taneka Gardner at the church during an alleged human sacrifice ritual, ordered by the now-deceased pastor of the church, Kevin Smith. Ruddock is accused of cutting Gardner’s throat, although Anthony Williams, the attorney for the defendant, has suggested that it was the pastor who killed the woman. The constable, who started giving evidence on Thursday, became the third to take the stand in the trial which started last week in the Home Circuit Court, downtown, Kingston. He told the court that he was on duty when information reached the team about a stabbing incident at the Yaweh Church in Albion, St James. “On our way to Yahweh we saw a gathering at the Pathways International Church. I stopped the service vehicle and Constable Williams was talking to a lady dressed in brown. Everyone else was in White. He spoke to her in relation to the gathering. After he spoke with the lady we decided to go to the Yahweh Church to deal with the report but we didn’t see anyone to speak to or to take a report from,” the witness explained during the examination-in-chief by prosecutor LaToya Bernard. He said the team decided to proceed to Pathways church where people, except for one woman, were dressed in white garments and standing outside the gates. “A male voice was giving instructions to people on the property. The instructions were in relation to the police. The voice said, ‘Kill the police if they try to enter the property’. We contacted our supervisor and I informed her of what was happening. She gave us some instructions and we waited for support to come to us. That was the instruction,” the policeman told the court. He said that while waiting, a special operations team came to assist him and the three other cops who were the first responders to the scene. he said he spoke to the two constables and, “with the use of their tactical flashlights they went closer to the fence and were making some observations of the property”. “The fence is to the front of the property, it is made of concrete and board. They were shining the flashlights around the property, to the side and on the driveway on the inside of the property. Myself and another constable were standing in the back of the service unit that I drove to the location. “While shining the lights on the compound they shone it on a white sheet that appeared to be covering a human body, with red substance on it. I was seeing parts of the body — the feet. I didn’t get to observe for a very long time because we started hearing explosions sounding like gunshots coming from off the premises. I took cover and the team took cover. I did not return fire and no member of the team returned fire because I did not see who was firing the shots and based on our training, the crowd that was there, even if we did see someone, we could not open fire in that crowd,” the witness explained. According to the cop, more instructions were given to the team by a woman deputy superintendent via a phone call. He explained that the explosions went on for a while and they continued to take cover. “While maintaining cover, I saw an Area One police unit along with other police personnel. They were near the gate that you can walk through to go onto the premises,” he testified. “I heard another explosion from the property so I maintained cover just the same. After being there for a while, I heard a shouting, ‘Property breached! Property breached!’ It was coming from the property. I looked in the direction of the church and saw police and military personnel on the compound. I can’t say the exact time the military came. I did not see them on their arrival. I walked on the property after I squeezed myself through the driveway gate. I made observations. I saw the same partially covered body on the driveway with a red substance. From little below the knees up to the head was covered. I could see the ankles. The body was in the driveway,” the witness testified. Pastor Smith died on October 25, 2021 in a motor vehicle crash on the Linstead bypass in St Catherine while being transported to Kingston to where he was to be slapped with charges stemming from the incident. Watch the Jamaica Observer documentary on YouTube: Kevin Smith: Cult Pastor — Dead or Alive? The Story that Shook Jamaica