Ruddock takes stand, claims Dr Kevin Smith killed Gardner at Pathways Church

KINGSTON, Jamaica — Andre Ruddock has taken the witness stand in his own murder trial on Monday afternoon in the Home Circuit Court in Kingston, claiming that Dr Kevin Smith killed 39-year-old Taneka Gardner and not him. Ruddock is on trial for murder in relation to the October 17, 2021 killing of Gardner at the Pathways International Kingdom Restoration Ministries in Albion St James. It is alleged that Ruddock killed Gardner on instructions from Smith, who was pastor of the church. READ: Prosecution rests After his attorney-at-law, Anthony Williams, addressed the seven-member jury, Ruddock was taken from the prisoner's dock and escorted to the witness stand where he began to give sworn testimony. He claimed that he was tending to animals when he saw Gardner kneeling and Smith using a knife to cut her throat. He claimed the pastor walked away from where Gardner fell. He claimed the pastor went onto a boardwalk where he began using a firearm to shoot at the police.