Second cop rejects claim Ruddock’s confession was coerced

A detective sergeant on Tuesday corroborated the testimony of a colleague given last week that murder accused Andre Ruddock was not forced in any way to admit to cutting the throat of 39-year-old Taneka Gardner at Pathways International Kingdom Restoration Ministries in Albion, St James, on October 17, 2021. Ruddock is on trial in the Home Circuit Court in Kingston in relation to Gardner’s killing at the church. He was allegedly acting on the instructions of his now-deceased pastor, Kevin Smith. Last week a detective corporal, who was a detective constable at the time of the incident, told the seven jurors, trial Judge Leighton Pusey, prosecutors and defence attorneys, that when Ruddock was taken from the crime scene to Montego Bay Police Station in Freeport, he confessed to the killing during a caution statement without being forced or threatened. Ruddock subsequently gave answers to 42 questions that were prompted by the confession he gave in the caution statement. The detective corporal told the court that in the interview room with him at the time was the detective sergeant, who is now on the witness stand, as well as two justices of the peace. Both the caution statement and the question-and-answer session were taken down in writing and were also video recorded to be used as evidence in court. Although at no point in the video footage did it appear that Ruddock was forced to say anything, defence attorney Anthony Williams insisted during cross-examination of the detective corporal last week that intimidation and threats were levelled at his client by the cop before he arrived at the police station. He suggested that the detective ‘draped’ his client in his waist and slapped or “buffed” him in the chest while on the church compound. He also suggested that because he had his gun on him, Ruddock felt intimidated and treated. However, the detective denied those suggestions. On Tuesday the detective sergeant, who was present during the recording of both the caution statement and the question-and-answer session, repeated in the court what his junior already shared from last week. He said that Ruddock was in no way threatened to say that he killed Gardner by cutting her throat on instructions from Smith. He said there was also no threat towards Ruddock to get him to sign the statements after he gave them. “No ma’am,” the detective sergeant said in response to prosecutor LaToya Bernard’s question of whether Ruddock was intimidated to give or sign the caution statement. He insisted that Ruddock signed the statement of his own free will, and was not intimidated or threatened to answer the 42 questions in any special way. He denied that Ruddock was promised anything if he admitted to the killing. The detective sergeant said that on October 18, 2021 he arrived at the office of the Montego Bay Criminal Investigations Branch about 9:15 am. “Upon arrival there, whilst going down a passageway of the Criminal Investigations Branch office, I saw the accused man, Mr Andre Ruddock, o/c Soldjie, sitting on a chair inside that said passage,” the detective said, explaining that Ruddock called out to him while he was walking down the passage. He told the court that he knew Ruddock prior to that day as they first met when Ruddock had a dispute with another man. “I was driving through Albion, going towards Paradise in Montego Bay, St James, and there was a dispute with Mr Ruddock and a citizen. This dispute had to do with animals such as cows and goats, raised by Mr Ruddock, that were a nuisance to the citizen’s property. After that we would just pass and say ‘Hi’ if we saw each other on the road. It was on that very same day when we met for the first time he said he was a member of the Jamaica Defence Force. “On the 18th of October 2021, he called out to me. He said ‘Mr B, mi waaa talk to you.’ I stopped and asked him what he wanted to say to me. When he started speaking to me, I realised what he was saying. He said ‘Mr B, a me slash one girl throat up a di church.’ I immediately stopped him from speaking and cautioned him. I said to him, ‘You are not obliged to say anything, but whatever you say may be put into writing and given into evidence.’ I inquired of him if he had any lawyer. “He said ‘No,’ but I told him that what he was saying to me, he would have to have a lawyer present. He still insisted on speaking to me. He still wanted to tell me what he did. As a result of this, I spoke to Deputy Superintendent Wright and told him what Mr Ruddock said to me, and asked him to assist in getting a lawyer for Mr Ruddock. “Sometime later that morning, two justices of the peace came to the office. I knew only one of the justices before,” the detective sergeant testified. The trial resumes today.