PROSECUTORS were on Tuesday given three weeks by a Supreme Court judge to locate and contact witnesses in order for a trial date to be set for Andre Ruddock, the man accused of the murder of Taneka Gardener during a ritual at Pathways International Kingdom Restoration Ministries in Montego Bay, St James, on October 17, 2021.

The matter, which was set to get underway in the Home Circuit Division of the Supreme Court on Tuesday morning, was stalled after prosecutors indicated that the 11 witnesses to be called by the Crown had not been subpoenaed by the investigating officer, who was supposedly involved in another case. In addition Ruddock, who had initially signalled that he wanted to be tried by a judge sitting without a jury, has since instructed his attorney Anthony Williams that he would prefer being tried by a judge and jury.

Supreme Court judge Justice Leighton Pusey, who chafed over the delay, instructed Ruddock’s attorney to file the necessary application to allow for the change to a trial by jury to be effected.

Justice Pusey, in noting that “not much” seemed to have been done since the matter “came before the court with much fanfare”, said given the delay and changes, it would have to be put back on the trial list.

“I can’t say when we can try this matter,” Justice Pusey said, noting that the case had been set for hearing over three weeks. Furthermore, he said the “notoriety” surrounding the case would pose particular difficulties in empanelling a jury, adding to the uncertainty as to a possible trial date.

In ordering Ruddock remanded, Justice Pusey instructed that he be brought before the court again on Friday, November 15, for the Crown to provide an update on the availability of witnesses and for the formal application to be made to enable the change from a judge-alone hearing to a trial by jury.

Ruddock’s attorney Anthony Williams is also pressing for the Crown to not only state the availability of the witnesses but for them to also disclose the particulars of the individuals in question.

On Tuesday a stockily built Ruddock, who now sports a full beard and short locks, observed the proceedings quietly. Ruddock supposedly cut Gardner’s throat during the ritual after another individual allegedly balked at doing so under the instructions of purported Pastor Kevin Smith, who presided over the mysterious affair on the night in question.

Ruddock, who was said to have cared for animals at the church, is alleged to have asked a witness if he wasn’t planning on carrying out the instruction of the religious sect’s leader during the ritual.

In details shared by Supreme Court judge Justice Vinette Graham-Allen during a case management hearing some months ago, “the witness said no, [then] the accused walked off to where the deceased was. When he approached, she held her head down and he slit her throat. He confessed that he did it. The accused was apprehended by the police and placed before the courts”.

Eight days after the deadly ritual Smith, who was to be tried alongside Ruddock, died sensationally in a motor vehicle crash on the Linstead Bypass in St Catherine while being transported from Montego Bay to Kingston to be charged with two counts of murder, two counts of wounding with intent, and illegal possession of a firearm.

In May this year, a coroner’s inquest cleared the cops who were transporting Kevin Smith, with the judge ruling that the clergyman caused the accident in a bid to commit suicide. Smith, 39, died from the crash-related injuries.

Twenty-six-year-old Constable Orlando Irons, of the Fugitive Apprehension Team, also died in the crash.

The judge, Justice Carol Hughes, found that, based on the evidence, Smith assaulted the cops who were transporting him, and by his actions — which were “unlawful and dangerous” — caused the death of Irons.